8 March 2024 Letter to Commissioner Reynders from LIBE Committee Chair DPDI Bill

Dear Commissioner Reynders,

The LIBE Committee closely follows the matters linked to the United Kingdom’s data protection
regime and adequacy findings granted to the UK by the European Commission. On 23 May 2023,
LIBE committee Members exchanged views with the UK Information Commissioner, Mr John
Edwards. The exchange constituted a follow-up to the LIBE committee’s mission to the United
Kingdom in November 2022. During the exchange of views, LIBE Members raised their concerns
with regard to the UK’s Data Protection and Digital Information Bill and its possible impact on the
UK adequacy findings, both under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Law
Enforcement Directive (LED).

On 13 June 2023, I sent you a letter concerning the Bill, to which you replied on 28 August 2023,
stating that you will continue to closely monitor how this proposal evolves in the parliamentary
process. The legislative process is now heading towards its end, and LIBE Members noticed that
the law in question passed the UK House of Commons in November 2023 with many controversial
provisions unchanged (such as lack of independence of supervisory authority or the removal of
the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner, which oversees the sharing of DNA and
fingerprint data under Prüm cooperation with the EU).

I would be, therefore, grateful if you could provide me with the Commission’s up-to-date
assessment of whether the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, as passed by the UK
House of Commons, respects the principles, rights and obligations of the GDPR and the LED, in
particular, whether the draft Bill meets the requirement of “essential equivalence” as established
by the Court of Justice in case C-311/18 Schrems II.

Yours sincerely,
Juan Fernando López Aguilar