Dr Erdos on "Going Global? The General Data Protection Regulation and Transborder Data Flow in an Interconnected World?

On Wednesday April 11th, Dr David Erdos will deliver a talk titled "Going Global? The General Data Protection Regulation and Transborder Data Flow in an Interconnected World"  at the University of Hong Kong.   This is part of a symposium on Privacy, Data Protection and Data-Sharing in Biomedical Research organized by HKU's Centre for Medical Ethics and Law.

Abstract:

The Snowdon revelations catapulted restrictions on the flow of personal data overseas into the very centre of the data protection debate and the General Data Protection Regulations sets out a much tougher regulatory approach here than was previously the norm in many EU Member States (including the UK).  Going forward, transfers to a new controller or processor based overseas will only be legitimate if certain strict conditions are met, such as a European Commission decision that the jurisdiction in question provides “adequate”/“essentially equivalent” protection or the appropriate use of standard contractual clauses.  It is nevertheless important to keep in mind that these rules are not ends in themselves but rather meant to be instrumental means to securing a high, yet also contextual, level of data protection.  In a ubiquitously connected world, this may necessitate some rethinking of what we mean by a “transfer” of personal data.  It will also require active work by data protection authorities to help craft solutions which safeguard data subjects whilst also enabling other positive goals to be fulfilled including satisfying “the legitimate expectations of society for an increase of knowledge” (GDPR, recital 113).

More information about the conference can be found here.