UK government sets out ambitious proposal for reforming the UK data protection landscape.
By Gail E. Crawford, Ian Felstead, Fiona M. Maclean, Irina Vasile, Timothy Neo, and Amy Smyth
On 17 June 2022, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published its response to its consultation “Data: a new direction” (the Consultation), setting out the government’s plans to reform the UK data protection regime.
These reforms are part of the UK’s National Data Strategy, which seeks to shift focus from prescriptive requirements to a risk-based approach, thereby making data protection less burdensome for businesses and enabling them to protect personal data in a proportionate and appropriate way. The DCMS has indicated, in comments at a recent conference, that the intention and direction of travel is to build on, improve, and clarify the approach that the UK will take with the UK GDPR in a way that benefits businesses whilst maintaining the same level of data protection for individuals.
This blog post scrutinises some of the Consultation’s key takeaways. For a full list of proposals that are being taken forward pursuant to the Consultation, see this response Annex.