This is an update on the UK’s now very imminent departure from the EU and what it means for the world wide web. The UK officially left the EU on 31 January this year and since then, has been in a transition phase, during which all laws remained the same. This transition period ends on 31 December 2020 when Brexit finally becomes a tangible reality.

The most immediate change, as we previously blogged about, is that from next year, UK citizens will no longer be able to reserve or renew any .eu domain names. In order to do so, a person must :

• be themselves an EU national (or a national of one of Norway, Liechtenstein, or Iceland) OR
• have a correspondence address in an either an EU country, or in Norway, Liechtenstein, or Iceland.

Anyone who has an .eu domain name address must ensure they meet one of these conditions if they wish to keep it. If not, their only option is to transfer their domain name to someone that does.

Port 80 Services meets both of these conditions, so if you are due to be affected by the new legislation, get in touch with us before it’s too late ! It takes on average around 1 week to transfer a domain name, so contact us as soon as possible to ensure we have enough time to move your domain over before the law changes.

Data Protection : A Giant Looming Headache ?

In another earlier blog post, we touched on the effect Brexit will have on UK Data Protection laws and specifically, how the GDPR will apply to Britain once it is no longer a member state. In our article, we explained how Brexit was very unlikely to have any effect on the UK’s compliance with the GDPR. As we noted,

« This is because the GDPR has strict rules concerning the transfer of data from an EU member state to a third country, as the UK will become. If the UK were to deviate from the GDPR, it will create massive issues for UK-based companies who have clients, suppliers or partners in the EU. It is therefore in the UK’s interest to follow the EU’s lead and maintain the same data privacy standards as its continental neighbours. »

Well, it appears that we may be guilty of having have made a reasonable assumption about an unreasonable government! Recent comments from the UK Prime Minister suggest the UK has in fact decided it would like to diverge from the GDPR post-brexit.

It is possible this is just empty posturing as part of a negotiating strategy, and that an agreement will be struck that keeps data transfer seemless. If not, and the UK does diverge from the EU’s laws, it will be massively disruptive for any UK businesses holding data on EU citizens. Imagine a digital version of the sort of chaos that will hit the UK’s ports from January when the transition ends and customs and tarifs return…

We will keep our blog updated with news as and when it becomes and available. Further reading: https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/prepare-for-all-eventualities-on-uk-eu-data-transfers-edps-says/