New EU Cyber Law for the Financial Services Industry with Significant Impact on ICT Service Providers
The new EU Regulation on Digital Operational Resilience for the Financial Sector (DORA) recently entered into force. DORA establishes cybersecurity requirements for information and communication technology (ICT) systems supporting the business processes of financial entities and represents a paradigm shift for the ICT sector. Critical ICT third-party service providers, who are providing services to regulated financial entities, will also be directly regulated under DORA and subject to regulatory supervision by a regulator to be established under DORA (a so-called ‘Lead Overseer’).
FemTech Has Been Warned: UK’s ICO Indicates Closer Scrutinization of FemTech Apps
On 4 April 2023, John Edwards, the UK’s Information Commissioner, stated that the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) would be “going after providers of women’s health apps and auditing them, and getting them to change any practices that are non-compliant.” Speaking at the IAPP Global Privacy Summit in Washington DC, the Information Commissioner indicated that this proposed strategy forms part of the ICO’s new “agile” initiative, which will focus on “areas of vulnerability, targeting…intervention [where] that has the greatest impact”.
UK GDPR Reform Is Back! Department of Science, Innovation and Technology Introduces New Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
On 8 March 2023, the newly created Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (“DSIT”) introduced the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill. The “Bill” is in substance a re-introduction of the previous Data Protection and Digital Information Bill which was withdrawn from Parliament on the same day as the new Bill was published. The Bill, which has been hailed by the UK Government as one that will “save billions” and “cut down pointless paperwork” is the UK’s latest attempt to create a more streamlined piece of data protection legislation for the UK whilst still “ensur[ing] data adequacy.” The Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) also welcomed the re-introduction of the Bill, with the Commissioner stating that he would “support [the Bill’s] ambition.” While much of the Bill remains the same as its previous iteration, we set out the key provisions and notable amendments below.
