Patrick Fox, Senior Consultant – Technology, Data & Analytics, discusses how Brexit is likely to impact on the EU Data Protection Laws here in the UK:
Now that Britain is in the middle of vacating the EU, there are many questions being asked about the nation’s future and what the plans are for moving forward within numerous industries. There is a large question mark that currently sits over the data & technology industry - how will Britain’s exit from the European Union affect Data Protection laws?
Anyone within technology and especially within a data heavy environment will have/should have heard about the new data protection rules that are coming into play in May 2018. The new data protection laws are allegedly going to be much tougher than that of the current UK Data Protection act of 1998. These new rules are known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and were agreed in Brussels in late 2015.
What do you need to know about EU Data Protection Laws?
- The EU Data protection laws will have an impact on any business that holds or makes use of European data - this will be the case within both European countries and countries outside the EU.
- A Large majority of global businesses expect that these new laws will cause significant increases in cost when it comes to doing business in Europe.
- There are a number of different compliance and data protection amendments to be made by most companies who wish to continue using personal data while doing business in an EU country.
The question is, how will it impact us here in Britain? The simple answer is that it will still have a huge effect on most business who trade European wide. GDPR is going to affect any UK business that offers any type of service to the EU market, this will be regardless of whether you store your data in the UK or on EU territory.
The advice for any business trading European wide is to get a strategy in place to adhere to these laws; this is not something that can be done overnight and will take an abundance of planning. It may be the best time to work in Data Governance as a contractor as the regulatory demand will far outweigh the supply.
For further advice or to learn more about opportunities within Technology, Data & Analytics, contact Patrick Fox for an open and confidential conversation Patrick.Fox@ojassociates.com +44(0)161 694 0733.