UK-EU Data Flows: Breathe And Stop, An Adequacy Decision Is What We've Got

The implications of Brexit through the lens of data protection have been uncertain to say the least. Whilst many were concerned that the UK could perhaps be subject to a similar fate to the US following the decision taken by the ECJ in the "Schrems II" case last year either because of genuine concern over its privacy regime or merely to apply politically-motivated pressure in negotiations, others felt confident that the European Commission would not take this stance towards the UK as it would want to keep the flow of data between the EU and UK moving for the good of the remaining EU Member States. In either case, not knowing whether the EU would grant the UK a data adequacy decision has forced some UK businesses to put their data innovation projects on hold in order to retain some budget to potentially introduce new safeguards for EU-UK data transfers (e.g. the existing or new Standard Contractual Clauses ("SCCs")) in order to comply with the General Data Protection