UK Data Protection Bill

On September 13, 2017, the UK Government published a new Data Protection Bill regulating the use of individuals’ personal data.

The Bill, which is intended to replace the UK Data Protection Act 1998, would serve a range of functions, most notably setting out how the UK intends to make use of its leeway to derogate from basic rules in the new EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR”).  For instance, the GDPR allows countries in the EU to modify its rules or introduce additional sanctions where necessary to protect freedom of expression, research, or other public interest objectives.

The Bill would also apply “GDPR-like” rules to data that is not covered by the GDPR (such as data in unstructured paper-based files), implement of the new EU Police and Criminal Justice Data Protection Directive (the “PCJ DPD”), and set down privacy and data security rules for its intelligence agencies.

The Bill will now undergo further debate and amendment, and should hopefully clear both Houses of Parliament in advance of May 25, 2018, when the GDPR will become law in the UK subject to any modifications implemented by the Bill.

This post discusses some of the Bill’s salient points for commercial organizations.
Continue Reading UK Government Publishes New Data Protection Bill