Legal

Adequacy Decision

A determination by the European Commission that a non-EU country provides an adequate level of data protection.

An adequacy decision is a formal determination by the European Commission that a country outside the EU/EEA provides a level of data protection essentially equivalent to that of the EU.

Effect

When a country has an adequacy decision, personal data can flow freely from the EU to that country without any additional safeguards like SCCs.

Countries with Adequacy Decisions

As of 2026, adequacy decisions are in place for countries including: Andorra, Argentina, Canada (commercial sector), Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Israel, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the United States (under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework).

GDPR Article 45.

Related Terms

GDPRLegal

The General Data Protection Regulation — the EU's comprehensive data protection law, effective since May 2018.

Standard Contractual ClausesLegal

Pre-approved contract terms for transferring personal data from the EU to countries without an adequacy decision.

Cross-Border TransferCompliance

The transfer of personal data from one country to another — subject to special rules under the GDPR.

Privacy ShieldCompliance

A former EU–US data transfer framework invalidated by the Court of Justice of the EU in 2020 — replaced by the Data Privacy Framework.

APIAnonymization