Amid perceived (or professed) uncertainty around the UK’s future GDPR adequacy status, Google executives have opted to transfer oversight of their UK data subjects from their EU subsidiary Google Ireland Limited to their American HQ Google LLC.
Cited by outlets such as Reuters and The Guardian, Lea Kissner, Google’s former lead for global privacy technology, has stated,
“There’s a bunch of noise about the UK government possibly trading away enough data protection to lose adequacy under GDPR, at which point having them in Google Ireland’s scope sounds super-messy. […] Never discount the desire of tech companies not be caught in between two different governments.”
It’s important to remember that the UK doesn’t yet retain GDPR adequacy status, which is subject to current Brexit negotiations. Officially, the Government is seeking adequacy status, and data protection regulations are not expected to constitute an obstacle to any UK-EU departure deal.
Harry Smithson, 28th February 2020