The decision made by the British people in the 23 June
2016 referendum has multiple consequences, many of them legal. Some have already been addressed, but the
issue of what Brexit could mean for European citizens’ privacy and data protection
rights has been pushed to the background.
The regulatory framework for data protection in the
European Union conferred total freedom of circulation on data within the 28
Member States. The United Kingdom’s exit
from the EU, and consequently from that legislative environment, will therefore
mean that its citizens will be considered as established in a third country, and
issues such as those currently existing with the United States will have to be
contended with. Basically, sending data
from any EU country to the UK will constitute an international data transfer, with
the legal effects that this entails.
Obviously, given the importance of massive data
processing for a company from any sector, the UK is not going to remain aloof
from its former fellow Member States, since not interacting with the EU in this
field would leave it out of the game in a sphere that is vitally important for
the economy.
This situation obviously gives rise to uncertainty -which
will have to be cleared up by the British government in the coming months-
concerning the decision to be made on the subject of data protection in the
island State.
