EDPB Opinion on Draft Adequacy Decision for South Korea

• 25/10/2021
• Articles

On 27 September 2021, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) issued a favourable opinion on the European Commission’s draft adequacy decision for the Republic of Korea. The opinion is an important step towards a formal adequacy decision. Once the formal decision has been adopted, personal data can flow freely from the European Economic Area (EEA) to South Korea. This means that further safeguards or authorisations such as binding corporate rules or contractual clauses would no longer be required (see our note on European Union and South Korea Conclude Adequacy Talks).

The EDPB’s opinion concludes that the key aspects of South Korea’s data protection framework are essentially equivalent to the European data protection framework. The EDPB’s opinion focused on the general features of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the local South Korean laws providing access by public authorities to personal data transferred from the EEA for law enforcement and national security purposes.

Please click on the link below to read our note on the subject.