The UK government has made clear its intention to move away from GDPR since leaving the EU, and hopes to establish a more agile regime. Proponents of the change, including chancellor Rishi Sunak, believe the UK can set its own data laws without endangering its data adequacy agreement with the EU, which allows data to flow between companies in the UK and EU.
However, this could be risky as, if the EU feels the UK government plans do not protect the data of its citizens sufficiently, the adequacy agreement could be revoked.
During a panel at Tech Monitor’s Digital Responsibility Summit on Friday, John Whittingdale MP, minister of state for media and data, said the government is not set on “dismantling GDPR”. “We continue to agree with the principles that underlie [GDPR], but we believe there are opportunities to deliver that standard of data protection in a less burdensome and obstructive way, which is why we’ve embarked on a programme of reform,” Whittingdale explained.