A few hours before the start of the Brexit Special European Council (see other news) on Wednesday 10 April, the European Commission once again reviewed all its preparatory work in the event of the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU on Friday 12 April without an agreement.
As far as police and judicial cooperation is concerned, the EU legal framework would cease to apply to the United Kingdom in such a scenario. The Commission has therefore focused on finding “alternative legal frameworks” that the EU and its Member States could use, it explains in a communication.
In concrete terms, a no-deal Brexit would mean that the United Kingdom would be disconnected from all EU information systems, such as the Schengen Information System II (SIS), the Europol Information System (EIS), EURODAC or ECRIS. As an alternative, the country will be able to continue to exchange law enforcement information with Interpol.
What would then happen to the United Kingdom data in national or EU information systems exchanged before the withdrawal date? According to the Commission, there is no general obligation to delete these data, unless the United Kingdom, as owner of the data, expressly requests it or if the processing of the personal data is to be decided on a case-by-case basis. Data from the United Kingdom in the SIS or EURODAC will have to be deleted.
The United Kingdom would also no longer be able to participate in the EU agencies – Europol, Eurojust and eu-LISA – and would therefore be treated as a non-Member State without a specific cooperation agreement.
However, it may exchange strategic data with Europol and Eurojust. It may also exchange personal data with Europol, under the conditions provided for by its national law.
Data protection. As regards data transfers outside the judicial framework, the Commission considers that the instruments provided for in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to govern the exchange of data with non-Member States are sufficient.
These instruments, namely standard contractual clauses, binding corporate rules, codes of conduct and certification mechanisms or derogations, are already used for data transfers to all countries in the world, with the exception of the thirteen non-Member States or territories which are covered by an adequacy decision, explains the Commission.
The institution has therefore not adopted any emergency measures in this area and states that it does not intend, at this stage, to adopt an adequacy decision for the United Kingdom. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)