Joint Press Statement by Haksoo Ko, Chairperson of the Personal Information Protection Commission of the Republic of Korea, and Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice

In their meeting today in the margins of the 46th Global Privacy Assembly, the Chairperson of the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), Haksoo Ko, and the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, discussed progress on further strengthening cooperation on privacy and data flows, building on the Commission’s adequacy decision of 2021 and the recent reform of Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) which paved the way for a mutual adequacy arrangement.

In March 2023, the amended PIPA introduced new data transfer mechanisms, including an 'equivalency recognition', which is similar to a EU’s adequacy decision. This opened the way for the EU to become the first foreign jurisdiction recognised as a safe destination for data flows under Korean law. The discussions between the Commission and the PIPC to prepare such recognition are well advanced and at today’s meeting both sides, in reiterating the importance of that objective, agreed to further intensify their exchanges in view of finalising this process swiftly.

Once the PIPC will have adopted its decision, it will create together with the EU adequacy decision a comprehensive area of free and safe personal data flows between the EU and the Republic of Korea. This will enable data to flow in both directions based on a strong level of protection, without any need for further authorisations or additional transfer mechanisms. Both sides stressed that a mutual adequacy arrangement would also contribute to further strengthening the strategic partnership between the EU and the Republic of Korea, especially at a time when bilateral cooperation is being reinforced on digital matters.