Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether UK citizens enjoy individual rights to reasonable explanation and reasonable inferences on how their data is used under the exemptions of the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

The UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) obliges both parties to adopt or maintain a legal framework that provides for the protection of the personal information of the users of electronic commerce, which includes publishing information on protections as well as ways that individuals can pursue remedies and businesses can comply with legal requirements.

CEPA does not change existing protection for UK citizens’ personal data, as set out in the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, including the right to be informed about the collection and use of their personal data

The most relevant exemption for data protection - in the cross-border transfer of information article (Article 8.84) in the CEPA - allows the UK to adopt measures restricting data flows to achieve a legitimate public policy objective, such as personal data protection, provided the conditions attached to the use of the exemption are satisfied.