UK and US announce an agreement in principle for a "data-bridge"
On 8 June 2023, a joint statement was released by the UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology and US Commerce Secretary announcing an agreement in principle to establish a "data bridge" (i.e., an adequacy decision) between the UK and the US for transfers of personal data.
This follows the announcement of the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (see our detailed blog post on it here and signifies the UK's intention to extend this arrangement to transfers of personal data between the UK and US, subject to the outcome of the UK's assessment of US data protection laws and practices and the US designating the UK as a "qualifying state" under the Executive Order 14086. As a refresher on Executive Order 14086, this is the EO that introduces necessity and proportionality controls for US signals intelligence activities, in addition to introducing oversight and redress, but you have to be a "qualifying state" to benefit from it.
This announcement shortly follows the Irish Data Protection Commission's decision to fine Meta for failures to impose appropriate safeguards on the transfer of personal data to the US and indicates an increased urgency to finalise a robust mechanism for UK-US data flows.
