Deal or No-Deal: Does it Matter? Data Protection Predictions for Post-Brexit Britain
| Published date | 01 May 2020 |
| Pages | 275-281 |
| DOI | 10.3366/elr.2020.0633 |
| Date | 01 May 2020 |
This article examines the data protection implications for Britain following its withdrawal from the European Union (“EU”)/European Economic Area (“EEA”) and the passage of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 (“2020 Act”). It investigates the data protection implications under this agreement – in particular, whether leaving on the basis of this deal makes a truly substantive difference to data protection in post-Brexit Britain than if a no-deal Brexit were to occur, or, whether it merely delays the inevitable: fewer protections for the personal data and privacy of those residing in the UK; loss of access to important EU police databases, and serious disruptions to data flows for companies.
Whilst an array of reasons for Brexit were put forward by the “Leave” campaign, the main purposes centred around: parliamentary sovereignty; immigration; and security. Brexiteers claim that it is necessary to leave the EU in order for the UK to restore parliamentary sovereignty and re-establish itself as an independent nation, enabling greater control over its borders and limiting immigration. In doing so, it was argued that security would be enhanced on the basis that open borders make it too difficult to sufficiently “check and control people”.
Whilst the 2020 Act remains similar in many ways to the October 2019 incarnation of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (“WAB”) – including with regard to data protection arrangements – it does introduce significant changes, including: the removal of certain protections for workers' rights;
As stated above, the transition period will not be extended beyond the 21 December 2020 deadline under the 2020 Act, bringing down the guillotine on the formal Brexit process, regardless of what has or, more importantly, has
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