Commissioner Jourová launches data protection adequacy dialogue with Korea and participates in EU-Korea Workshop on Privacy and Data Transfers

This morning, Commissioner Jourová received Mr Lee Hyo-sung, Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission and Mr  Jeong Hyun-cheol, Vice-President of the Korea Internet & Security Agency to discuss data protection issues and to launch a dialogue with a view of a possible data protection adequacy decision on Korea in 2018. The launch of the discussions was announced in the Commission’s Communication on Exchanging and Protecting personal data in a globalised world last January. Vera Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality said after the meeting:” On data protection, the EU and Korea have a lot in common.  We both value data protection as a fundamental right and understand that in today’s data-driven economy, data protection is a central factor of consumer trust. This is the reason why we have decided today to establish a dialogue toward towards an adequacy decision in 2018. This would complement our successful EU-Korea free trade agreement by ensuring free flows of personal data between the EU and Korea with a high level of data protection“. A joint statement was issued to mark the opening of the dialogue. Later in the afternoon, Commissioner Jourová will launch the EU-Korea Workshop on Privacy and Data Transfers. This workshop will bring together representatives from Korean and European companies to discuss the application and implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation.