EU seeks unrestricted cross-border flow of data

The European Union is seeking unrestricted cross-border flow of data between itself and India, including allowing storage of data in the EU’s 27 countries, under the free trade agreement being hammering out by the two sides. The chapter on Data Flows and Personal Data Protection in the draft advance text of the FTA says that parties are committed to ensuring cross-border data flows to facilitate trade in the digital economy. In India, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2021, which currently stands withdrawn, made the case for data localization, requiring that copies of sensitive personal data be available within India and conditions be put on cross-border data transfers. The government on Wednesday withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2021 and said it would soon be replaced by “a comprehensive legal framework,” that will be “designed to address all of the contemporary and future challenges of the digital ecosystem.” Aprita Mukherjee, professor, ICRIER, said, “India is an IT and ITes export hub where we process sensitive data in sectors like healthcare and finance for other countries and any policy may take that into account.” The UK entered into a data adequacy agreement with the EU post-Brexit, allowing for personal data to flow freely from the EU and the wider European Economic Area to the UK.