On 30 March 2021, the European Commission announced, in a joint statement with South
Korea's data protection authority, the Personal Information
Protection Commission (PIPC), the "successful conclusion"
of the adequacy talks between the EU and South Korea. Such adequacy
decision will enable the free flow of personal data from the EU to
South Korea, covering both private and public data controllers, and
ultimately benefiting commercial data transfers and facilitating
regulatory cooperation.
The adequacy talks began over four years ago, in January 2017
and this announcement brings them closer to receiving this adequacy
decision. South Korea has been preparing for this adequacy decision
by amending its data protection laws (which it did last year), to,
for example, enact the new Personal Information Protection Act,
which confirmed the independence and powers of the PIPC. This was
referred to in the announcement as confirming the "high degree
of convergence" between the
