UK aims to diverge from EU data rules to drive growth in digital economy

According to Reuters, the UK has indicated it will reform its data protection law to allow information to flow more freely and drive growth in the digital economy now it has left the European Union. The UK Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said that ‘there is a sweet spot for the UK whereby we hold onto many of the strengths of GDPR in terms of giving people security about their data. […] But there are obviously areas where I think we can make more progress. […] In our rule making, we can take a slightly less European approach as set out in GDPR by focusing more on the outcomes that we want to have and less on the burdens of the rules imposed on individual businesses’. Dowden indicated he did not have the intention to “move precipitately” and would draft proposals after consultation with industry. In response, the European Commission stated it will be prepared to suspend transfers of personal data to the country should the UK in the future diverge from EU standards.