28 civil society organisations and privacy experts have written to the European Commission to raise concerns about the threat that UK data reform poses to European citizens’ data rights.

The Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill, which is expected to be passed into law this autumn, will amend the UK GDPR.

Privacy campaigners have long warned the proposals will undermine the data protection rights of people in the UK, and give more power to the state and corporations.

But the proposed changes will also impact data protection rights in the EU.

Mariano delli Santi, Legal and Policy Officer for Open Rights Group said: “The DPDI Bill will rip up hard won privacy protections. This will not only harm UK citizens but also the rights of Europeans living inside and outside of the UK.

“The UK government’s determination to deregulate data protection is putting the adequacy agreement with the EU in jeopardy, which is a risk that the UK economy cannot afford.”

Key concerns with the DPDI bill include the adequacy agreement between the UK and the EU which allows for the free flow of personal data to and from the UK without additional safeguards.

Adequacy agreements are provided to the EU to nations that have data protection standards in line with the EU GDPR, offering similar protections to EU citizens. These agreements allow data to be transferred back and forth without further intensive and costly contracts.

The EU is currently in negotiations with the US to discuss the possibility of a new EU and US adequacy agreement – the UK is also in talks with the US to form a similar data bridge.

However, the current EU-UK adequacy agreemented rested on the premise that the UK’s data protection system would continue to follow the same rules as when the UK was an EU Member State.

Data rights activists say the proposals within the new DPDI Bill seriously undermine data protection rights, and as such, threaten the adequacy decision.

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The main proposals threatening the EU adequacy agreement include facilitating the onward sharing of European personal data to third countries without safeguards.

Also, the Open Rights Group has claimed that the bill would undermine the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), which would be paramount in continuing the adequacy agreement.

Further, the DPDI Bill would give the UK government the power to override data protection principles whenever it sees fit, meaning that European personal data could be accessed by UK public authorities without basic human rights safeguards in place, according to the Open Rights Group.

The bill would also give the UK government power to give political directions to the UK data protection watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office.