What is adequacy and why is it important?
Adequacy, or Data Adequacy, is a status that the European Commission, One of the core institutions of the European Union, responsible for lawmaking, policymaking and monitoring compliance with EU law can grant to countries that are not part of the European Economic Area (EEA). To be deemed adequate, countries outside of the EEA (known as Third Party Countries that are not part of the European Economic Area (EEA).) must provide a level of personal data Information which relates to an identified or identifiable natural person. Protection that is ‘essentially equivalent’ to the protection provided in EU law. In other words, the European Commission must be satisfied that EU residents’ personal data will be just as protected within the third party country, A country that is not part of the European Economic Area (EEA), as it is in the EU.
Currently, the European Commission have deemed 12 countries adequate:
- Andorra
- Argentina
- Canada
- Faroe Islands
- Guernsey
- Israel
- Isle of Man
- Japan
- Jersey
- New Zealand
- Switzerland
- Uruguay
When a country is deemed adequate, personal data is able to flow freely between it and the EEA, with no extra precautions required. From a Canadian perspective, imports and exports of both goods and services rely heavily on the guaranteed free flow of personal data to and from the EU.