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Data Protection

​The Data Protection Act 2018(c. 12) is a United KingdomAct of Parliament which updates data protection laws in the UK. It is a national law which complements the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and replaces the Data Protection Act 1998.

The Data Protection Bill was introduced to the House of Lords by Lord Ashton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 13 September 2017.[1]

The Data Protection Act 2018 received royal assent on 23 May 2018. The Act came into effect on 25 May 2018. It was amended on 1 January 2021 by regulations under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, to reflect the UK's status outside the EU. It replaces the Data Protection Act 1998.[2]

It applies the EU's GDPR[3] and, where the GDPR allows EU member states to make different choices for its implementation in their country, defines those choices.