23/07/2026 (Agence Europe) – In a decision handed down on Thursday 23 July, the European Commission concluded that South Korea “continues to ensure an adequate level of protection” for personal data transferred from the EU. This assessment follows the review of the initial adequacy decision, adopted in December 2021 (see EUROPE 12856/4). The Commission emphasises that the South Korean framework has moved significantly closer to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) thanks to the recent reforms of the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). The report welcomes the fact that the South Korean regulator has actively enforced this legislation by “imposing fines on Google and Meta for illegal data collection” and by “investigating cross-border data transfers by companies such as DeepSeek and AliExpress”. In light of these findings, the Commission considers it appropriate to extend the intervals between future reviews, moving to a four-year review cycle. The decision: https://aeur.eu/f/mzp (JM)