Data Protection Act 2018

18 Transfers of personal data to third countries etc [F1 : public interest] U.K.

(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations specify, for the purposes of Article 49(1)(d) of the [F2 UK GDPR]—

(a) circumstances in which a transfer of personal data to a third country or international organisation is to be taken to be necessary for important reasons of public interest, and

(b) circumstances in which a transfer of personal data to a third country or international organisation which is not required by an enactment is not to be taken to be necessary for important reasons of public interest.

(2) The Secretary of State may by regulations restrict the transfer of a category of personal data to a third country or international organisation where—

[F3 (a) the transfer cannot take place based on adequacy regulations (see section 17A),] and

(b) the Secretary of State considers the restriction to be necessary for important reasons of public interest.

(3) Regulations under this section—

(a) are subject to the made affirmative resolution procedure where the Secretary of State has made an urgency statement in respect of them;

(b) are otherwise subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.

(4) For the purposes of this section, an urgency statement is a reasoned statement that the Secretary of State considers it desirable for the regulations to come into force without delay.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in s. 18 heading inserted (31.12.2020) by The Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/419), reg. 1(2), Sch. 2 para. 24(2) (with reg. 5); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F2 Words in s. 18(1) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/419), reg. 1(2), Sch. 2 para. 24(3) (with reg. 5); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F3 S. 18(2)(a) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/419), reg. 1(2), Sch. 2 para. 24(4) (with reg. 5); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

Commencement Information

I1 S. 18 in force at Royal Assent for specified purposes, see s. 212(2)(f)