US-UK data-sharing agreement—the final piece of the puzzle

Table of contents

• What extra-territorial powers do US and UK authorities have?
• What are the constraints on those extra-territorial powers?
• What is the new US-UK Bilateral Data Access Agreement?
• What safeguards apply under the US-UK Agreement?
• What additional safeguards exist under national legislation?
• Does this solve national constraints?
• Does the US-UK Agreement impact encryption and how bilateral is use likely to be in practice?
• What are the next steps?

Article summary

TMT analysis: The US and UK have entered into a landmark agreement to allow access to electronic data for use in criminal investigations between their law enforcement agencies (the US-UK Agreement). Caitlin Potratz Metcalf, Senior US Associate, CIPP/US, Washington DC and Peter Church TMT Counsel, London of Linklaters look at the final piece in the US-UK data sharing puzzle.