Eduardo Ustaran

Photo of Eduardo Ustaran
Firm/Organization: Hogan Lovells
Blogs: Global Media and Communications Watch, HL Chronicle of Data Protection

Latest Articles

Unless there is a political earthquake (some would say a miracle) Brexit will happen on 29 March 2019. Upon Brexit the UK will cease to be an EU Member State and become a so-called 'third country'. As a result, UK-based organisations, which in the context of transfers of personal data to countries outside the EU have always been exporters, will become importers of data originating from the EU. This is a serious concern because transfers of personal data from the EU to third countries are severely restricted. So a key UK Government objective from day one has been to ensure that the UK is regarded as an adequate jurisdiction, which would allow unconstrained transfers of personal data from the EU. But will it be?
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The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport ('DDCMS') has today released guidance on "Data protection if there's no Brexit deal", which is part of its preparations for if there is a "no deal" scenario when the Article 50 negotiating period comes to an end on 29 March 2019. The UK will become a "third country" on its exit from the European Union, which means that unhindered cross-border transfers of data will no longer automatically be able to take place between the UK and the EU. The guidance confirms that, given the "unprecedented alignment" between the UK and EU data protection regimes, the UK would continue to allow transfers of data from the UK to the EU at the point of exit. However, the Commission has made it clear that they would not make a decision on adequacy until the UK is a third country (that is, after 29 March 2018), and its procedure for reaching a decision typically lasts several months.
In July, Eduardo Ustaran spoke at Privacy Laws & Business’ International Conference in Cambridge about the sort of activities likely to prompt regulators into exercising their increased fining powers under the EU GDPR. A link to the video of his presentation can be found here and a detailed report of the presentation is available here.…
More than 15 years after the adoption of the Data Protection Directive1, the European Commission noticed that the current legislative framework on data protection did not adequately deal with the risks associated with online activity2. Acknowledging this, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)3 was finally adopted by the European Parliament on 14 April 2016, entering into force in May 2016 and becoming directly applicable in all Member States on 25 May 20184. The GDPR targets…
Could the GDPR give rise to forum shopping and are there any pre-litigation strategies that should be considered? Here, we review four key elements that should be kept in mind in respect of data class actions in the EU. Damages In the US, many class actions are dismissed for lack of ‘standing’, i.e. because the litigants do not demonstrate that they suffered an ‘injury in fact’ that is concrete and actual or imminent. Does the…
A data lake is an infrastructure that permits different data sets from within a group to be combined and analysed together. To analyse a data lake under GDPR, it is helpful to think of a data lake in two phases, which we analyse in our user guide. The infrastructure phase Here, the guide covers: Identify the entity that is hosting the data lake. Implement an intragroup data processing agreement. Check data localisation rules. Data protection…
“Getting to Data Nirvana” is our four-step approach to help you integrate your legal, regulatory and compliance work streams into your organisation’s overall data strategy. The job of the legal and compliance teams is to make sure that their company’s data projects do not breach applicable laws. Their task is not easy because the number of laws regulating the processing of data – particularly personal data – are increasing multiplying worldwide. However, a focus solely…
With the current focus on the coming into effect of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), one could (almost) be forgiven for forgetting about the question of international data flows. However, given the political and legal developments currently affecting the future of international data transfers, that would be a very serious strategic mistake. Legitimising data globalisation remains a top business priority in our uber-digitised world. The coming of age of cloud-based services, the continuous…
With the current focus on the coming into effect of the EU General Data Protection Regulation, one could (almost) be forgiven for forgetting about the question of international data flows. However, given the political and legal developments currently affecting the future of international data transfers, that would be a very serious strategic mistake. Legitimising data globalisation remains a top business priority in our uber-digitised world. The coming of age of cloud-based services, the continuous advance of mobile communications and the push by developed and developing countries to reach a global market have made international data transfers more essential than ever. At the same time, the level of regulation affecting those transfers is becoming more impenetrable and politically charged. Against this background, what are the issues that need to be taken into account to develop a solid global data flows legal strategy?