UK government adopts draft Brexit withdrawal agreement
15/11/2018
Last night, the cabinet agreed a draft withdrawal agreement on the UK’s exit from, and future relationship with the European Union. In terms of data protection, the documents reaffirms the UK government’s commitment to a high level of data protection during and after Brexit.
The future relationship with the EU is described in just seven pages. The EU will commence its evaluation of the UK’s data protection framework with the aim of decisions by the end of 2020. There will be ‘appropriate cooperation between regulators.’ The draft withdrawal agreement talks about ‘essential equivalence’ rather than adequacy.
The agreement also reaffirms the UK’s commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and the Union’s and its Member States’ to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union.
The UK Parliament now has to adopt the draft withdrawal agreement – it may extremely difficult for the Prime Minister to get enough support for it. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has just resigned and further resignations may follow. The EU has said it will convene European Union leaders to meet on 25 November with the aim of finalising the draft Brexit agreement.
See Articles 70-74 on data protection (and 128)
Read more about these developments in PL&B UK Report, November 2018, to be published on 19.11.