Deadline for Data Transfers: Standard Contractual Clauses must be updated by 27 December 2022

Last summer, the European Commission published long-anticipated Standard Contractual Clauses ("2021 SCCs") (see our earlier update on the new SCCs here) which modernised older pre-GDPR versions of the SCCs ("pre-2021 SCCs"), and incorporated new obligations on controllers and processors in light of the GDPR and the Schrems II judgment. Notably, the 2021 SCCs put the transfer impact/risk assessment emphasised in the Schrems II judgment on a mandatory contractual footing. The European Commission also recently published 44 questions and answers dealing with common queries on implementing the 2021 SCCs, which can be accessed here. 

A transition period has been counting down since the arrival of the 2021 SCCs in order to allow organisations making international transfers of personal data based on the pre-2021 SCCs to transition to the 2021 SCCs. 

Now, there are only five months remaining for organisations to adopt the 2021 SCCs as the transition period will end on 27 December 2022. 

The next steps for organisations to ensure compliance ahead of this deadline include: 

• identifying which international data transfer arrangements need to transition to the 2021 SCCs; and

• ensuring that all transfer impact/risk assessments associated with the transfers are complete and up-to-date. 

Our data protection team is available to assist you with understanding the implications of the 2021 SCCs for your organisation, migrating existing transfers arrangements to the 2021 SCCs, as well as advising on transfer impact/risk assessments. For further information, please contact Seán O’Donnell, Zelda Deasy or any member of the ByrneWallace LLP Data Protection/GDPR Team.