GDPR Glossary

What is Adequacy decision?

GDPR Glossary

A European Commission decision that a non-EU country offers adequate data protection, allowing free transfers there.

An adequacy decision is the Commission's finding that a country (or framework) provides an essentially equivalent level of protection, so data can flow there without extra safeguards.

Examples include the UK, Switzerland, and the EU–US Data Privacy Framework for certified US organisations.

In the Regulation

Art. 45 Transfers on the basis of an adequacy decisionArt. 44 General principle for transfers

Related terms

International data transferSending personal data outside the EEA — allowed only with a valid transfer mechanism.EU–US Data Privacy FrameworkThe 2023 adequacy framework allowing transfers to certified US organisations.

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