Digital secretary Oliver Dowden has revealed government plans to reform data protection laws now that the UK has left the EU.

The UK’s secretary of state for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, told reporters that the reforms, which aim to drive growth in the digital economy, would enable freer movement of information.

EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been echoed in UK law following its exit from the EU, which the union has deemed provisionally adequate.

Dowden said that while the government would not water down data protection, it would seek growth opportunities.

“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,” he told reporters. “But there are obviously areas where I think we can make more progress.”

The digital secretary said Britain could be quicker than the EU in setting up data-sharing deals outside of the bloc.

“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,” he said.

Dowden explained that the UK could diverge from Europe whilst also maintaining adequacy with the EU.

Share Story: