UK drafts Data Protection Bill to stay on par with EU’s GDPR after Brexit

Taking a leaf from the EU’s book on data protection, the United Kingdom is preparing to introduce a new law that will see it aligned with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), to be on par with the rest of Europe after it is no longer a member of the union.

In May next year, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will begin affecting every organization that processes personally identifiable information of an EU resident.

Under the GDPR, businesses will be required to use defenses like encryption, two-factor authentication (2FA) and key management strategies. Hefty fines will ensue for non-compliant organizations.

Companies in the UK will have to abide by the new law until at least March 2019, when the sovereign country is on course to leave the EU in what has been widely referred to as “Brexit.”

To remain compliant after its exit from the EU, the UK is now drafting a similar law of its own. Replacing the current Data Protection Act (that went into force in 1998), the new Data Protection Bill will include the "right to be forgotten," allowing citizens to have their personal data deleted from any records, upon request.

Non-compliance will translate into fines of up to £17 million, reports ITpro.

Digital minister Matt Hancock, described the bill as “one of the most robust, yet dynamic, set of data laws in the world. It will give people more control over their data, require more consent for its use, and prepare Britain for Brexit," he said.

"Bringing EU law into our domestic law will ensure that we help to prepare the UK for the future after we have left the EU," Hancock added. "We are committed to ensuring that uninterrupted data flows continue between the UK and the EU and other countries around the world."

The EU is on track to hand out massive fines next year, if new research by Deloitte is any indication. Polling 400 executives in the consumer product sector, the survey revealed that businesses are ill prepared to fight cybercrime, while at the same time they are overly-confident in their ability to do so.