Data protection essentials

Data protection laws in both the UK and EEA (the EU plus Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein) are intended to ensure information about living individuals (within the definition of ‘personal data’) is used fairly and responsibly.

To help ensure that, both the UK and data protection laws impose a large number of obligations on those ‘processing’ personal data (and on controllers of such processing) and grant rights to those whose personal data is processed (the ‘data subjects’). In summary, ‘processing’ includes doing almost anything with personal data, including storing, sharing, deleting or using it.

UK data protection law is largely derived from EEA data protection laws and is therefore generally based on similar principles, although there are some detailed differences.

This subtopic provides certain core resources commonly required by commercial lawyers when addressing UK and EEA data protection laws under:

•
the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (EU GDPR) regime, which applies under the laws of

To view the latest version of this document and thousands of others like it, sign-in with LexisNexis or register for a free trial.

TAKE A FREE TRIAL

Latest Public Law News

Menopause-related tribunal claims triple, law firm says

Law360, London: Employment tribunal claims involving issues linked to the menopause have surged in number since 2022 as employers grapple with the potential inclusion of the menopause and its symptoms within the definition of disability, according to research carried out by a law firm.

REUL(RR)A 2023 SI Bulletin—drafts laid for sifting on 4 March 2025

Public Law analysis: The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (REUL(RR)A 2023) contains a range of legislative powers, enabling relevant national authorities to introduce secondary legislation to amend, revoke, restate and/or replace assimilated law. Under the REUL(RR)A 2023, before certain statutory instruments are formally laid in Parliament, they have to go through a preliminary sifting process to confirm the appropriate parliamentary procedure. If the relevant select committee recommends that a proposed negative SI should be upgraded to the affirmative procedure, the government may accept the recommendation or reject it. In the latter case, the minister responsible must provide an explanation, but may still proceed with the SI under the negative procedure. The latest draft SIs laid for sifting are reported here. Subjects covered include amendments to legislation in the field of corporate governance and audit regulation.

Hansard Society analyses the impact of breaching the international aid target

The Hansard Society has published analysis examining constitutional and legislative impact of the government's decision to reduce international aid spending to 0.3% of GNI to fund defence spending increases, breaching the 0.7% aid target under the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015. This development follows the 2020-2021 precedent where, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ministers effectively bypassed the statutory 0.7% target through a ministerial statement rather than legislative amendment. The Society's analysis considers whether the legislation allows for pre-meditated non-compliance with a statutory duty, examining the weaknesses in declaratory legislation, and the lack of enforcement mechanisms beyond basic reporting requirements. The analysis highlights the risk of growing executive dominance over Parliament, as Ministers can effectively override primary legislation through statements, raising questions about parliamentary sovereignty and the efficacy of laws without meaningful sanctions. The Society argues this demonstrates a concerning pattern of legislative failure and diminishing parliamentary oversight. While acknowledging that ignoring a law is easier politically than repealing it, the report warns that doing so erodes legal certainty and democratic accountability.

Weekly round-up of EU-UK TCA Specialised Committees’ publications—5 March 2025

This round-up includes details of publications made by Specialised Committees established by the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) for the period from 26 February to 4 March 2025.