Six years post referendum UK signs first data sharing deal with South Korea

Six years after the referendum in which the United Kingdom decided to leave the European Union, and in the middle of what seems to be a complete breakdown of governance, the nation is unveiling its first foreign data sharing deal: It has signed a deal with South Korea that would enable businesses in the United Kingdom to send data without restriction to the Republic of Korea and vice versa. The agreement was signed with South Korea.

The term "data transfers" refers to the movement of any and all digital services that may have been furnished in one jurisdiction but are used or operated in another. It includes information from services such as online banking, research, internet services, and GPS and smart device services, among others. According to the United Kingdom, South Korea is the location of two of the largest technology businesses in the world, especially mobile technology giants Samsung and LG, and already accounts for around £1.33 billion ($1.6 billion) in worldwide digital commerce.

Julia Lopez, the United Kingdom's Data Minister, was quoted as saying in a statement that "today represents a tremendous milestone for the United Kingdom, the Republic of Korea, and the high standards of data protection we share." "Our new deal will open the door to greater digital commerce, which will be beneficial to companies in the United Kingdom, and it will make it possible for more critical research, which has the potential to make people's lives better all throughout the nation."

"It is a privilege for me to agree to this united statement here and now. "Contributing to the formation of a healthier and more sustainable global data landscape can be accomplished through the strengthening of cooperation between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea based on the shared recognition of high standards of protection," said Jong in Yoon, the Commissioner of the Personal Information Protection Commission of the Republic of Korea.

South Korea was one of several countries that were targeted for a so-called international data adequacy initiative. The initiative's goal was to "unlock the benefits of free and secure cross-border data flows now that the country has left the EU." The other countries that were targeted for the initiative were the United States, Australia, Singapore, the Dubai International Finance Center, and Colombia. South Korea was one of the countries that was targeted for the initiative. According to what was said by the administration today, "the government continues to make outstanding progress in its conversations with other key nations."

Ironically, the United Kingdom would not be any further advanced in the achievement it has accomplished today if it had remained a member of the European Union (EU). South Korea already has a data adequacy treaty with Europe.

An International Data Transfer Expert Council was established earlier this year, and Google, Mastercard, and Microsoft were among the firms and independent experts that participated in providing advice to the government over this transaction. The government contends that data transfers and the many rules that have been established around them have caused "billions of pounds" of commerce to go "unrealized" as a result of the difficulties associated with negotiating that terrain.

To be more specific, the United Kingdom's Department of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, which is in charge of overseeing the deal, stated that the idea will be that now companies and organizations doing business across the two countries will be "able to share data freely and maintain high protection standards" while doing so. This was stated in reference to the fact that the deal is being overseen. It was stated that parties would no longer be required to deal with contractual safeguards such as paperwork for international data transfer agreements or binding corporate rules given that the fundamentals of the respective data usage policies of the countries had, in theory, been vetted and harmonized.

In spite of this, one could argue that the length of time it has taken, the fact that it only covers one country that would have been a partner the United Kingdom could have had (even without Brexit) anyway, and the fact that today's deal is still not fully done — it's just in "principle" — casts some doubt on the claim that Brexit will result in a significant reduction in the amount of bureaucratic red tape the United Kingdom will have to deal with in the future when it comes to

The completion of the transactions with the remaining items on the priority list will, however, be a good starting point. According to an estimate provided by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS), "data-enabled services" to the complete list (which includes the United States) are presently worth more than £80 billion.