The UK and the UK have agreed to commit to building a ‘data bridge’ which would enable the free flow of data between the two countries.

As part of the new deal, US companies who are approved to join the framework will be able to receive UK personal data, echoing similar agreements in place with other countries including the Republic of Korea.

The government said that 93 per cent of UK service exports were data-enabled in 2021 and Britain exported more than £70 billion of these services to the US.

Yet UK businesses who want to send personal data to a company in the US must have contracts in place to ensure security and privacy. The government claims the data bridge would remove this obstacle and make the process cheaper and easier.

The agreement is part of an extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Transportation, and administered by the Department of Commerce.

“This commitment in principle is the result of 2 years of positive and productive discussions with the United States,” said Chloe Smith, secretary of state for science, innovation and technology. “Data bridges not only offer simpler avenues for the safe transfer of personal data between countries, but also remove red tape for businesses of all sizes and allow them to access new markets.”

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