Over two-thirds (67%) of SME owners currently believe that the UK should reform its data protection laws if it wishes to remain a leading global tech hub.
The revelation was made following a study carried out by the Data & Marketing Association (DMA) which found that there was overwhelming demand for data reform, with a further 66% business owners supportive of updated and modernised data privacy regulations.
The news comes as the Data Protection & Digital Information Bill (DPDI) concludes its journey through the House of Commons in a bid to radically update the UK’s data protection laws.
“The UK has a great opportunity to revise its data protection model to supercharge investment and growth across our digital economy. From an innovation and investment perspective, it will provide stronger privacy protections than the US and China, while being more pragmatic, less bureaucratic than the EU’s model,” DMA CEO, Chris Combemale said.
“By adopting DPDI’s pro-innovation revisions, which preserve GDPR’s robust consumer protections, the UK can establish a customer-centric model for data protection that will not only make the UK a more appealing global tech hub, but it will also act as a template for the rest of the world to follow.”
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He continued: “There is strong support among the UK’s SME community for sensible, pro-growth reforms, yet they also recognise the value of consumer trust by maintaining robust privacy protections,” added Combemale. “Reforms within the DPDI Bill mirror these views, creating a better balance between innovation and privacy, maintaining high levels of data protection while enabling scientific and technological innovation.”
“It is essential that the UK public remains confident in the data protection ecosystem. Therefore, it is highly encouraging that most trust the regulatory safeguards in place to protect them, as well as businesses’ willingness to put their interests first,”
Concluding, Combemale said: “DPDI will enhance the customer experience by helping businesses to better communicate and engage with the UK public. It will not impact consumers’ existing privacy protections, which is important to both SMEs and consumers, so we urge UK Parliament to complete passage without hesitation.”
Crucially, more than three quarters (79%) of SME owners expressed a desire for any future regulations to protect the privacy rights of the customer, although (72%) of those surveyed believed that this was already achieved by GDPR.
