On Friday the 28th of January, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport laid the UK’s new International Data TransferThe movement of data from one place to another. This could be, for example, from one data controller to another, or from one jurisdiction to another. Agreement (IDTAThe International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) is a UK framework used as a mechanism to enable a data sharing agreement for the legal transfer of personal data to a country outside the UK. It came into force on 21 March 2022 and replaced the EU’s Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs)) and International Data Transfer AddendumAn additional document that modifies, clarifies, or supplements the terms of an existing legal document without nullifying the original content. to the EU’s Standard Contractual ClausesStandard Contractual Clauses are legal tools to provide adequate safeguards for data transfers from the EU or the European Economic Area to third countries. (SCCs) before Parliament. The IDTA and Addendum will replace the SCCs that UK organisations are currently having to rely on when making restricted transfers, and take into account the binding Schrems II decision of 2020 which called into question the validity of existing SCCs.
If Parliament raises no objections, both documents will come into force on the 21st of March, which would provide some much needed clarity on restricted transfers for UK organisations in a post-Schrems II and post-Brexit era.
You can find a copy of the IDTA and Addendum on the Information Commissioner’s Office website here.