EU adequacy assessments: Evolving criteria, political tensions, and the push for a global data standard

Mc Cullagh, Karen (2025) EU adequacy assessments: Evolving criteria, political tensions, and the push for a global data standard. Common Market Law Review, 62 (3). pp. 879-912. ISSN 0165-0750

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Abstract

This article develops and applies a multi-dimensional model to explain the adequacy assessment process and to evaluate its effectiveness in promoting the EU’s data protection standards globally. An analysis of both successful and unsuccessful adequacy decisions under Directive 95/46/EC and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) reveals that the process has become more streamlined, with increasingly stringent criteria. The model also highlights how, historically, the European Commission factored in trade considerations, leading to the adoption of adequacy decisions that fell short of EU data protection standards. The article explores the Commission’s strategic motivations for doing so and assesses whether effective mechanisms are now in place to mitigate the impact of trade factors and prevent the adoption of deficient adequacy decisions or require their remediation. It concludes that, although the assessment process and criteria are more robust, their application remains inconsistent. Moreover, unresolved tensions around mass surveillance continue to undermine the EU’s efforts to position its data protection regime as the global norm.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The article title was updated between acceptance and publication. The original title was “A critical evaluation of the evolution of EU data protection adequacy assessments and their effectiveness as a mechanism for promoting EU data protection standards as the global norm”. Information from the earlier version of this article was cited in Mc Cullagh's submission to the House of Lords European Affairs Committee Inquiry on EU-UK adequacy.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	gdpr.,adequacy,data protection,international transfers,law ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3308
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Media, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	05 Aug 2025 09:30
Last Modified:	10 Aug 2025 06:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100051
DOI:	10.54648/cola2025045

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