EDPB warns US-UK data deal will impact data adequacy decision

In a letter to the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has warned that the UK risks to undermine the possibility of a data adequacy agreement between the UK and the EU after the Brexit transition period ends, if there are no sufficient safeguards included in the UK-USA agreement on data access for criminal investigations to comply with EU standards. According to ComputerWeekly, although this is still a preliminary assessment by the EDPB, its chair Andrea Jelinek said that the board had doubts as to whether the safeguards in the Brexit withdrawal agreement for access to personal data in the UK would necessarily apply in the case of the disclosure obligation to digital platforms operating from within the USA, regardless of whether or not the data was held there, and whether they would apply to requests made under the US Cloud Act.