Question 79 - CIPP-E discussion

Adequacy is a term that the EU uses to describe other countries, territories, sectors or international organisations that it deems to provide an 'essentially equivalent' level of data protection to that which exists within the EU. An adequacy decision is a formal decision made by the EU which recognises that another country, territory, sector or international organisation provides an equivalent level of protection for personal data as the EU does.The effect of such a decision is that personal data can flow from the EU (and Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland) to that third country without any further safeguard being necessary12.

The European Commission has so far recognised Andorra, Argentina, Canada (commercial organisations), Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Israel, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, the United Kingdom under the GDPR and the LED, the United States (commercial organisations participating in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework) and Uruguay as providing adequate protection13.On 28 June 2021, the EU Commission published two adequacy decisions in respect of the UK: one for transfers under the EU GDPR; and the other for transfers under the Law Enforcement Directive (LED)2. These decisions contain the European Commission's detailed assessment of the UK's laws and systems for protecting personal data, as well as the legislation designating the UK as adequate.Both adequacy decisions are expected to last until 27 June 20252.

Among the four options given, only Switzerland has been granted an adequacy decision by the EU, which means that it will continue to enjoy adequacy status under the GDPR, pending any future European Commission decision to the contrary. Greece is a member state of the EU, so it does not need an adequacy decision to receive personal data from the EU. Norway is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), which also includes Iceland and Liechtenstein, and has incorporated the GDPR into its national law, so it also does not need an adequacy decision.Australia has not been recognised as adequate by the EU, so transfers of personal data from the EU to Australia require appropriate safeguards or derogations13. Therefore, the correct answer is D. Switzerland.Reference:

https://pages.iapp.org/Free-Study-Guides_CIPPE-PPC-EU.html https://data-privacy-office.eu/courses/cipp-e-official-training-course/