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Cynthia O’Donoghue

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On 14 July 2022, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) has launched a public consultation on its draft strategic three year plan, titled “ICO25”. The plan sets out a commitment to safeguard the information rights of the most vulnerable individuals with the aim of empowering people to confidently share their information to use today’s market products and services, with work particularly targeting:

  • children’s privacy;
  • AI-driven discrimination;
  • the use of algorithms within the benefits system; and
  • the impact of predatory marketing calls.

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Continue Reading ICO25: ICO sets out its three year strategic plan

On 17 June 2022, in response to its consultation in 2021 on the same topic (which we wrote about here), the UK government published more detailed proposals to reform data protection laws in the UK. The response to the consultation can be found here. The intention of the reforms is to achieve greater personal data use enabling economic growth by removing barriers and reducing obstacles for organisations whilst maintaining high standards of personal data protection and EU adequacy.…

Continue Reading Government releases proposals to reform UK data protection laws

On 28 April 2022, the UK Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) published two discussion papers on the benefits and harms of algorithms and on the landscape of algorithmic auditing and the role of regulators, respectively.

About DRCF

The DRCF consists of four UK regulators: the Competition and Markets Authority, Ofcom, the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Financial Conduct Authority, to support regulatory cooperation in digital markets.…

Continue Reading UK regulators publish two discussion papers on algorithmic systems

On 4 May 2022, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) launched a consultation (available here) to request views from the tech industry on potential interventions to enhance security and privacy requirements for firms running app stores and developers making apps.…

Continue Reading Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport launches consultation on app security

On 22 March 2022, the European Commission (“EC”) adopted two new proposals for a Cybersecurity Regulation and an Information Security Regulation (available here and here). These regulations aim to set common priorities and frameworks in order to further strengthen inter-institutional co-operation, minimise risk exposure and further strengthen the EU security culture.
Continue Reading European Commission adopts two proposals for cybersecurity and information security regulations

As you might know, the new EU SCCs were published last year. The UK has now issued new templates for data transfers that can be used from 21 March 2022. With the UK templates confirmed and available, many multinational organisations with presence in the EU and the UK are gearing up to transition their contracts to the new templates. There are some deadlines to be aware of, which you will find in the ‘key dates to note’ section below.

The main agreements that organisations will need to focus on as part of their transition programme are:

  • template agreements with customers and vendors on processing personal data;
  • existing agreements with customers and vendors; and
  • existing agreements within the group companies.

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Continue Reading Time to change to the new EU and UK Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs)

Following the recent adoption of a new draft EU cybersecurity directive (we wrote about it here), the UK government has now also launched a consultation on its proposal to reform the existing UK cybersecurity legislation  (see consultation here).

A recap of the current UK cybersecurity law: NIS Regulations

One of the key pieces of cybersecurity legislation in the UK is the Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018 (NIS Regulations), which implemented the EU Cybersecurity Directive 2016 prior to Brexit.

Under the NIS Regulations, businesses who provide certain essential services (referred to as operators of essential services, or OES) and relevant digital service providers (RDSP) are required to register with the relevant competent authorities; meet a baseline level of cybersecurity requirements; and report any incident which has a significant impact on the continuity of the essential services.…

Continue Reading Cybersecurity 2.0: the UK follows suit with the EU in launching cybersecurity law reform

The UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (‘ICO’), has released draft guidance on the research provisions within the UK’s General Data Protection Regulation (‘UK GDPR’) and Data Protection Act (‘DPA’). The guidance is out for public consultation until 22 April 2022.
Continue Reading What does the ICO tell us about using data for research purposes?

On 7 February 2022, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced that it had launched a consultation on Chapter 3 of its draft guidance on anonymisation, pseudonymisation, and privacy enhancing technologies (PET).
Continue Reading ICO launches consultation on Chapter 3 of updated guidance on anonymisation, pseudonymisation and PET

In a judgment handed down by the UK Court of Appeal on 21 December 2021 ([2021] EWCA Civ 1952, available here), Walter Soriano, the claimant, was granted his cross-appeal, giving him permission to serve Forensic News LLC and four other defendants in the United States with proceedings under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The appeal came from the High Court, which had previously refused such permission on the basis that the claimant could not demonstrate that the claim satisfied the test for serving claims outside the jurisdiction. The reason given by the High Court was that the processing of the claimant’s personal data did not fall within the territorial scope of the GDPR. The Court of Appeal therefore revisited the GDPR’s territorial scope as part of this appeal and decided the claimant had an arguable case and could therefore serve the claim outside the jurisdiction.
Continue Reading UK’s Court of Appeal assesses territorial scope of GDPR