GDPR and Brexit Update: A Grace Period for International Transfers to the UK

On December 24, 2020, the European Union and United Kingdom agreed to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), alleviating concerns about the state of trade between the two jurisdictions at the end of the Brexit transition period. The TCA clarifies some short-term uncertainty pertaining to regulation of personal data protection and international transfer between the UK and the EU.

Among its many provisions, the TCA established a six-month grace period to continue to allow transfers of personal data from the EU to the UK. During that time, the EU will pursue an adequacy decision for the UK that would permit such transfers to continue under Article 45 of the General Data Protection Regulation. In the other direction, the UK has already deemed the EU adequate under its new data protection law, so data flows from the UK to the EU may continue unimpeded.

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