2019 Outlook: EU to Extend Privacy Stance with Bilateral Pacts

The European Union’s strict data protection standards will continue to go global in 2019, as more non-EU countries ramp up their privacy rules so they can transfer EU citizens’ personal data.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, can declare that a country has essentially equivalent data protection standards as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, allowing companies based in the country to transfer data out of the EU without additional safeguards. The international data pacts, or adequacy decisions, are crucial to digital trade and commerce for global companies.

The EU is finalizing an adequacy agreement with Japan—which would make ...