Granted by the European Commission to countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA), and by the UK to areas outside of the UK and EEA, data adequacy is a status awarded to a country who has proven that it provides a level of personal data protection comparable to strict GDPR standards. Once a country has been awarded this, information is allowed to pass freely between it and the EEA or the UK without additional safeguards required.
Post-Brexit, the UK is working towards the adoption of an adequacy decision by the European Commission to allow for the free flow of personal data from the EU into the UK to continue past 30 June 2021, when the ‘adequacy’ bridge agreed in the 2020 Trade and Cooperation Agreement is set to expire.