TIGA, the trade association representing the UK video games industry, today welcomed the European Commission’s draft data adequacy decisions. TIGA made the comments following the publication of the European Commission’s draft decisions on 19 February 2021.
The European Commission have recognised the UK’s high data protection standards and set out that the UK should be found ‘adequate’.
Positive data adequacy decisions under both the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Law Enforcement Directive (LED) would allow for personal data to continue to flow freely into the UK from the European Union (EU) and wider European Economic Area (EEA).
The decisions come after the Government formally provided the Commission with comprehensive explanatory material at the start of the adequacy assessment in March 2020. Since then, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have held a series of discussions with European Commission counterparts to demonstrate that the UK clearly meets the EU’s data adequacy requirements.
The draft decisions will now be shared with the European Data Protection Board for a non-binding opinion. They will then be presented to EU member states for formal approval.
The Commission did not finalise draft decisions in time to complete the adoption process by the end of the transition period. Therefore, as part of the UK-EU Trade Agreement, a ‘bridging mechanism’ for personal data flows was agreed. Currently, this allows personal data to continue to flow as it did prior to the end of the transition period for up to six months.
The UK government now ‘urges the EU to swiftly complete this technical process for adopting and formalising these adequacy decisions as early as possible.’[1]
CEO of TIGA, Dr Richard Wilson OBE, said:
‘I warmly welcome the EU Commission’s decision. TIGA strongly believes in the importance of a mutual data adequacy agreement between the UK and EU.
‘Data adequacy will create a solid foundation for digital trade with the EU and form a vital asset to the UK video games sector. Games development requires the use of a large amount of personal and non-personal data. The free flow of data between the UK and EU is essential to games publishing and to the operation of online games platforms.
‘Final approval of the draft adequacy decisions will help the UK video games sector to bolster trade with the EU, boost innovation and investment, and protect the smaller firms which make up a large proportion of British developers.’