U.K. businesses will still be forced to comply with rules that punish inappropriate sharing of consumer data, regardless of whether they leave the European Union or not.
A legal expert told CNBC that a new EU law that forces companies to disclose breaches of illegal data sharing and to appoint data protection officers will take effect in the U.K. as of May next year. The time frame for Brexit, which is not expected to be completed until at least 2019, would mean U.K. firms would still have to comply.
“Brexit won’t change how consumer data is handled in the U.K. – there won’t be any reduction of rights or protection,” Stewart Room, a legal expert on data protection at professional services firm PwC, told CNBC via email on Thursday.
