New data protection law in the UK: What the Data Use and Access Act 2025 entails
Data protection in the United Kingdom is taking a new approach: since the 19th. The Data (Use and Access) Act will take effect in June 2025, with far–reaching consequences for companies, government agencies, and affected individuals. The goal: economic relief and more clarity in the application of the law, without losing sight of the rights of individuals. What specific changes now apply – and why they are also relevant for EU monitoring.
On June 19, 2025, the Data (Use and Access) Act (DUAA) came into effect in the United Kingdom. The ICO (UK’s data protection regulator) lists the following points as reliefs for businesses:
- New legal basis “recognized legitimate interests”: The otherwise necessary balancing of interests is to be dispensed with in certain cases (e.g. in connection with questions of public safety)
- Isclosure of data in fulfilling public tasks: When data is passed on to public bodies such as the police, responsibility should no longer lie with the issuing organization, but with the requesting body (similar to the German state data protection laws).
- Purpose change: In certain cases, the compatibility of a new purpose is assumed, so that a corresponding review is no longer necessary (e.g., for public archival purposes).
- “Soft opt-in” for charitable organizations: The sending of marketing emails by these organizations should be permitted subject to objection if the recipients have shown their interest in the organization’s work or already support it.
- Right to information: When processing a claimed right to information, those responsible must only extract information to the extent that it is “reasonable and proportionate” to them.
- More clarity in the law: The changes are intended to make the laws clearer and more structured. For example, it is clarified that direct marketing is considered a legitimate interest.
It remains to be seen how the EU Commission will evaluate these changes when reassessing the adequacy decision for the United Kingdom.
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