Law digests: 30 June 2023

Data protection

R (on the application of the3million and another) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and others [2023] EWHC 713 (Admin), [2023] All ER (D) 15 (Apr)

The Administrative Court ruled on the legality of statutory restrictions on data protection rights in the context of immigration control. The judicial review was a challenge to the government’s second attempt to produce an immigration exemption from the UK’s General Data Protection Regulation (the UK GDPR), which was the retained version of the EU’s GDPR (Regulation 2016/679), with certain amendments. The claimants contended that, following the first judicial review in which the government’s initial attempt to produce an immigration exemption had failed, the exemption still did not meet the requirement of being a ‘legislative measure’, necessary for compliance with Art 23 of the UK GDPR; and/or that the immigration exemption still did not comply with the mandatory requirements in Art 23(2) of the UK GDPR, because it omitted necessary substantive and procedural safeguards. The court allowed the claim, in part, ruling