The EU team negotiating the UK’s withdrawal has published a brief position paper outlining the principles underlying their thinking on what to do about data protection and confidential information.
It covers three broad issues:
- The continued use and protection of personal data obtained before withdrawal date
- Protection of EUCI (European Union Classified Information) and national classified information exchanged in the interests of the EU before the withdrawal date
- Other restrictions of use and access to data and information obtained before the withdrawal date. This may include regulatory information such as customs data, competition activity etc
The overarching approach seems to be that EU laws and dispute resolution processes should apply to any data obtained before the withdrawal date. The paper also stresses that any UK agencies or contractors carrying out projects under contracts agreed before withdrawal should continue to handle information as if under the EU rules in force at the time the UK withdraws.
The four-page paper can be read here.
The UK Government’s own position paper on data protection – 15 pages worth – is available here
