Brexit and data sovereignty: key considerations
Whether you are responsible for the IT operations of a large company or an SME, or you are a sole trader with no one to answer to but yourself, you still have to abide by rules and regulations set by governments and higher authorities.
When it comes to data sovereignty, this is something of a minefield as the careful stewardship of someone else's personal details are not to be taken lightly.
The recent introduction of GDPR rules impacted on any business that held data on third parties, and you will already be aware of how much work it entailed in order to be in full compliance. However, with Brexit only a few months away, the important issue for businesses now is how it will affect data sovereignty and what you need to do about it.
What is data sovereignty?
In essence, data sovereignty revolves around where data is actually stored in the increasingly border-free world of digital communications and the cloud. The different agreements between countries and trading blocs such as the EU can present quite a complicated picture, and this was a specific area that was targeted by GDPR.
The flexibility of cloud storage is one of its biggest advantages over other older and less efficient processes, but obviously this can still be hampered by regulations set at national and global levels.
What could Brexit mean for data in the UK?
All countries in the EU essentially benefit from what might be called a “free movement of data”, and this currently applies to the UK in the same way as it does to the other 27 members. However, after the UK leaves next March, it may or may not still be included in this “free market” in data.
Current EU data protection legislation states that “special precautions need to be taken when personal data is transferred to countries outside the European Economic Area that do not provide EU-standard data protection”.
If data sovereignty isn't included in any finalised Brexit deal or if the “no deal” scenario comes to pass, then it could mean that your business is directly affected. Have you considered what might happen if the EU does not grant “equivalency” to the UK post-Brexit?
For example, your data might be in an EU country but your customers are based in the UK, so what happens after we leave the EU?
If you have a global customer base, you could hold data from citizens from various countries. Post-Brexit, the UK would no longer be covered by data agreements between the EU and other countries, for example, the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework.
How to prepare for the post-Brexit data landscape
With so much still up in the air when it comes to the actual details of the “deal or no deal” situation regarding Brexit, you might think that it is impossible to make plans for what is a highly unpredictable outcome. In fact, you can do quite a lot to mitigate against any potentially negative effects on your business.
The safest thing to do when it comes to data sovereignty issues is to make sure that information is migrated to UK-based data centres. This will mean that it will be subject to UK data protection legislation post-Brexit, making things straightforward for the information that you hold on UK citizens and businesses.
However, if your data is multinational in nature, then things could get a lot more complicated. Even so, by talking to the best UK cloud hosting providers such as Access Alto, you can keep up to date with the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations and how they will likely affect the day-to-day running of your data management systems.
