I hope you are winding down as we come towards the end of 2019. It’s been an extremely busy and eventful year here, I hope it has been a fulfilling year in your business.

We really appreciate the wonderful support and custom of our clients throughout the year; thank you for that.

We have some big plans in store for 2020 and I look forward to revealing those to you as the New Year unfolds; we are excited about the prospect and we think you are going to like what you will see. Watch this space!

There have been a lot of pretty big news items on the GDPR front in 2019, but there have been two in particular in recent days that I would like to mention to you.

The first is Brexit; the outcome of the recent UK general election provided some long awaited certainty on that front and it now seems certain that the UK will leave the EU on 31 January 2020.

From a GDPR perspective, this means that if you process data on people in the UK in your business and you do not have an establishment in that jurisdiction, you are going to need sepraate representation there from 1 February 2020. I am delighted to confirm that since this position has become clear we have now decided that we will provide this representation service in the UK as well as in the EU, so that you can avail of both here in a no-hassle one-stop-shop.

We are currently putting arrangements in place and I will have more detail for you on this in the New Year and certainly well in advance of the due date of 1 February.

The second major news item from a GDPR perspective was the publication of the opinion of the Advocate General of the CJEU in the SchremsII case on 19 December. This is the latest instalment in the long running Schrems case that originally let to the striking down of Safe Harbor for transatlantic data transfers in 2015. In the opinion published yesterday the Advocate General, in summary, found that, on balance, standard contract clauses continue to be a valid basis for international data flows to and from the EU. This is not the end of the matter and we await the final decision of the CJEU on the point, which will be due in 2020. The Advocate General’s opinion is not binding but it is influential and this bodes well for the continuance of a mechanism that many businesses rely on for day to day transactions in international data flows.

So, that’s it from us for 2019, we look forward to representing you in the EU (and perhaps even in the UK!) in 2020 and we greatly appreciate the opportunity to continue to do so.

You might note that our offices will be closed for general support from this evening until 2 January 2020. (We will of course continue to monitor our represenatitive services over the holiday period and any contacts received will be forwarded immediately.)

For now, I would just like to wish you and your family, and all of those that are important to you, a wonderful Christmas together and all of the very best for a peaceful, prosperous and, above all, healthy 2020.

We look forward to continuing to serve you then.