Countries

Jurisdiction-specific regulatory insights

Countries | Court decision | Data protection | Data Protection | EU | Regulatory action | Telecoms regulation | US

Exporting data from the EU after Schrems II: what to do now
ByRob Bratby 31 July 202018 March 2026

As previously discussed, the European Court of Justice’s recent Schrems II decision both (i) invalidated the US privacy shield; and (ii) threw into question alternative justifications for the export of personal data from the EU to the US. Whilst there is yet to be a substantive response from the European Commission, initial reactions from the…

Read More Exporting data from the EU after Schrems II: what to do now
Countries | EU | Government policy | Regulatory action | Telecoms | Telecoms regulation | UK

UK confirms it will mostly implement new EU telecoms law (despite Brexit)
ByRob Bratby 26 July 202018 March 2026

On 22 July 2020, the UK government confirmed that it would largely implement the European Electronic Communications Code – the EU’s updated, harmonised regulatory framework for telecoms – into UK law by 21 December 2020. This confirms the approach from that first announced in July 2019, providing welcome certainty, despite a change in the leader…

Read More UK confirms it will mostly implement new EU telecoms law (despite Brexit)
Countries | Court decision | Data Protection | Data protection | EU | US

European Court invalidates US Privacy Shield and questions blanket use of Standard Contractual Clauses
ByRob Bratby 17 July 202018 March 2026

Schrems II disrupts data export from EU: on 16 July 2020, the European Court of Justice decided, overturning the 2016 Privacy Shield Decision of the European Commission, that the US Privacy Shield did not, and does not, provide an adequate level of protection for the transfer of personal data from the EU to the US.

Read More European Court invalidates US Privacy Shield and questions blanket use of Standard Contractual Clauses
China | Commercial activity | Countries | Foreign direct investment | Government policy | Regulatory action | Telecoms | Telecoms regulation | UK | US

UK excludes Huawei from 5G
ByRob Bratby 14 July 202018 March 2026

UK excludes Huawei from 5G and broadband networks: the UK Government has announced a U-turn on Huawei’s involvement in 5G networks, following a meeting of the National Security Council, that will delay 5G rollout by two to three years and increase costs by up to £2 billion.

Read More UK excludes Huawei from 5G
Countries | Regulatory action | Telecoms | Telecoms regulation | UK

How will Ofcom’s role change in 2020?
ByRob Bratby 3 July 202018 March 2026

On 30 April 2020 Ofcom published its work plan for 2020/21, which flags two new material upcoming changes in its role for 2020: becoming the regulator for on-line harms (aka dealing with ‘fake news’ on social media) enforcing the UK’s policy to limit/exclude Chinese network vendors from UK 5G network deployment. Ofcom explains: “…the UK…

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Countries | Telecoms | Telecoms regulation

Welcome to bratby.law
ByRob Bratby 1 July 202018 March 2026

Welcome to bratby.law. We are an English law boutique practice specialising in telecoms, digital and data. We open today, 1 July 2020, and after 26 years working in traditional law firms, telecom companies and a regulator, I am now working for myself. I am in equal parts excited and terrified. But maybe that is to…

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ASEAN | China | Commercial activity | Corporate governance | Court decision | Data protection | EU | Foreign direct investment | Government policy | M&A | Media | Outsourcing | Payment | Regulatory action | Technology | Telecoms | UK | US

Goodbye from Watching the Connectives
ByRob Bratby 30 March 201716 April 2020

To all my readers, thank you and goodbye. This blog is now an ex-blog.

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Regulatory action | Telecoms | UK

Ofcom consults on revision of (half of) UK’s general authorisation conditions
ByRob Bratby 3 August 2016

As anticipated, Ofcom yesterday started a consultation on its plans to update the UK’s Conditions of General Entitlement i.e. the obligations placed on all telecoms operators in the UK that rely on the UK’s general authorisation.

Read More Ofcom consults on revision of (half of) UK’s general authorisation conditions
Data protection | EU | Government policy | Regulatory action | UK

European Network and Information Security Directive adopted to address cyber-threats
ByRob Bratby 25 July 2016

On 6 July 2016, the European Union (which for now includes the UK) adopted the Network and Information Security (or NIS) Directive. This imposes obligations on three sets of stakeholders:

Read More European Network and Information Security Directive adopted to address cyber-threats
Data protection | Government policy | Regulatory action | Telecoms | UK

UK Government publishes Digital Economy Bill draft
ByRob Bratby 5 July 2016

The UK Government today published its first draft of the Digital Economy Bill. As expected, it contains provisions addressing (text taken from Government explanatory fact sheet):

Read More UK Government publishes Digital Economy Bill draft
EU | Regulatory action | Telecoms | UK

Europe consults on implementation of net neutrality
ByRob Bratby 10 June 2016

From 30 April 2016, Europe has been subject to net neutrality rules set out in the Connected Continent Regulation. However those rules, set out in Articles 3 and 4 of the Regulation and reproduced below for easy reference, are framed at such a high level of abstraction as to be almost useless in assessing whether any…

Read More Europe consults on implementation of net neutrality
EU | Government policy | Regulatory action | Telecoms | UK

UK wayleave reform to create a £1bn windfall for telecoms operators
ByRob Bratby 2 June 2016

As discussed previously, perhaps one of the most important pieces of legislation for the telecoms sector proposed in the recent Queen’s speech is reform of the Electronic Communications Code, which deals with the telecoms industry’s access to land in the UK.

Read More UK wayleave reform to create a £1bn windfall for telecoms operators