Data Dive

On 7 November 2023, in the King’s Speech, the UK government announced three draft laws aimed at supporting tech companies’ growth and competitiveness: the Automated Vehicles Bill (AV Bill), the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (DMCC Bill), and the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DP Bill). Expected to be passed in the next 12 months, these laws, as the government says, are focused on modernising regulation so that innovative firms can thrive in the United Kingdom, while at the same time protecting consumers and enhancing users’ trust in new technologies. The proposed comprehensive legal frameworks aspire to position the UK as one of the global leaders on the tech regulation scene, ostensibly more business friendly than the European Union. As anticipated, and in contrast to the EU, there is no immediate plan to adopt a new wide-ranging Artificial Intelligence law, with existing laws continuing to operate as applicable. Firms that want to invest in, deal with or deploy new technologies across the globe should be aware of the UK legal landscape in order to assess and explore opportunities. We highlight a few pertinent points of the three laws in this alert.