This week, the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill had its Second Reading Debate in the House of Commons, where MPs exchanged views on the main principles of the Bill.

The Bill is intended to create a post-Brexit framework for data protection arrangements in the UK. The Government described this legislation as a “common sense-led UK version of the EU’s GDPR” which will remove barriers to international trade and reduce cookie pop-ups. 

On EU adequacy, the PPA believes that the legislation in its current form does not deviate enormously from EU rules and hence the risk of losing adequacy remains low. However, the PPA has stressed that it is important for publishers that this does not change as the Bill makes its way through parliament.

Many MPs, including Shadow DCMS Secretary Lucy Powell, expressed concerns throughout the debate about the implications of the Bill for the UK’s adequacy agreement with the EU. Ministers Julia Lopez and Paul Scully responded stating that Government is committed to ensuring a free flow of data with the EU and believes that the UK will maintain adequacy following the enactment of the Bill. 

The PPA also stressed to MPs that the Bill in its current form would allow the Secretary of State to introduce centralised cookie consent, without having to consult the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). This risks affording a disproportionate amount of market power to browsers (such as Google) at the expense of publishers. If enacted, Google would have the ability to override existing cookie preferences expressed by users to publishers and create significant competitive disadvantage for publishers. Labour MP Stephanie Peacock reiterated concerns expressed by the PPA, stating that this “may entrench power in the hands of existing tech giants and muddy the waters on liability”. The Ministers present did not directly respond to this point. 

Next Steps

The Bill will now progress to Committee Stage, where MPs will examine it line-by-line and consider amendments. The PPA will continue to monitor parliamentary activity on the Bill and seek opportunities to champion the importance of a fair cookie consent arrangement which does not interfere with market competition.

If you wish to hear more about our work in this area, please contact Eilidh.wilson@ppa.co.uk.