Brexit and promoters. What will the future bring?

Abi Roman

The Conservatives have won a majority in the UK’s General Election, Brexit is inevitable. But what happens next? And what does it mean for the brands and agencies that we run promotions with? Jorja Knight, our Legal Counsel, takes a closer look.

The issue of how Brexit will actually affect business has been concerning companies since the ­­­2016 referendum, but now that  Boris Johnson’s EU withdrawal agreement has been passed by Parliament the next step is ensuring it is turned into legislation before the Brexit date of 31st January 2020. This will simply be the first step in a lengthy and complicated process that will include negotiating trade deals, security issues and law enforcement.

Leaving the EU will remove the privileges of free trade, free movement of goods, services, and people, and might also cut off Britain’s direct access to its 500 million potential customers. Whilst none of this would directly affect a brand’s ability to market to these people, there are some areas worth bearing in mind.

Data

The UK currently enjoys the free flow of personal data within the European Economic Area (EEA), However; with a ‘no-deal’ Brexit, EU law will require additional measures to be put in place when personal data is transferred from the EEA to the UK in order to make the data transfers lawful. The UK will be regarded as a non-EU country and will not be eligible for the free movement of data until we are assessed as being a suitable ‘safe harbour’.

The UK Government has stated that data from the UK to EEA countries will not be affected for now and you can read the UK Information Commissioner’s guidance here.

Prizes

Brexit is most likely to affect travel prizes – there may be an increase in the associated costs for visas or travel insurance, but these are usually absorbed by the winner, not the promoter. Nonetheless these should be considered when structuring the promotion. It is also worth noting that the fluctuating value of the pound during the lengthy negotiation period may potentially cause considerable cost when handing out cash prizes to EU winners. Call us to discuss your upcoming promotions!

Customs

Whilst we cannot predict much until a trade deal is agreed, some future considerations may include additional customs duties which differ from country to country as well as delays at border customs affecting the delivery of prizes.

Our recommendations:

  • Seek good advice around your upcoming promotions and build in enough time to deal with the uncertainty.
  • Update your Data Processing Agreement by adopting the model wording available on the ICO website available here.
  • Also update your Privacy Notice to reflect these changes.
  • Where you use tick boxes to gain consent, you may need to amend the copy to reflect the transfer of data from the EEA to the UK.
  • Build time and cost considerations into your Terms & Conditions for the winners of travel prizes that may require visas and travel insurance.
  • Factor in additional time and cost where prizes need to be delivered within the EU from the UK.
  • Your company may wish to carry out a Brexit Impact Assessment to identify planning and resource requirements

For help and advice with planning promotions, sharing data and marketing compliance anywhere in the world contact PromoVeritas.