Britain plans new data rules to ease compliance burden

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will make another attempt to reform its data protection law on Wednesday with the objective of easing the compliance burden for businesses while remaining sufficiently in line with the European Union to keep information flowing.

The government said it would bring an updated Data Protection and Digital Information Bill back to parliament after its earlier proposals were paused in September for further consultation with industry.

The country’s current data rules mirror the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the comprehensive legislation adopted in the bloc in 2016 that protects personal data.

The EU in turn recognises Britain’s standards – a process called adequacy – enabling the seamless flow of data to continue.

However, Britain said it wanted to change its regime to make it simpler for businesses to follow.

It said it also wanted to cut the number of repetitive “cookie” pop-ups that users encounter online, including by giving organisations greater confidence about when they can process personal data without consent.

However, the changes will be limited in scope to ensure that the EU keeps information flowing, the government said, and to protect confidence in the UK’s comprehensive data protection standards.

Technology Minister Michelle Donelan said the new system would be “easier to understand, easier to comply with, and take advantage of the many opportunities of post-Brexit Britain”.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle)