Elizabeth Denham said the information rights strategy, due to be released by the Information Commissioner's Office "in time for the new financial year", will "have a clear international element".
"As a regulator and data protection authority, it’s important we have an international outlook," Denham said. "That’s long been the case, given the borderless nature of the digital economy, but it’s especially true today, as the UK reassesses its place in the world."
A panel of data protection experts from across Europe and Canada, where Denham was previously assistant privacy commissioner as well as information and privacy commissioner for British Columbia, shared their "perspectives on the ICO’s emerging international strategy" at a meeting convened by the UK watchdog last week, Denham said. The panel included the UK's former deputy information commissioner David Smith, former European data protection supervisor Peter Hustinx, and Jennifer Stoddart, former privacy commissioner in Canada.
Denham said: "It was noted … that the ICO needs to step up its engagement with the growing community of data protection authorities in the rest of the world. Effort should be put into developing bilateral relationships with individual authorities, whether on an ad hoc basis, for example when a shared enforcement interest arises, or on a wider, more permanent basis."
Denham said a new department of international strategy and intelligence has been set up within the ICO to help expand the authority's "global reach and influence".
"I continue to believe that the case for a modern, effective data protection regime is strong but I don’t believe that the UK or the EU has a monopoly on good ideas," Denham said. "There’ll be plenty more listening to be done before we publish our international strategy."
New EU data protection laws, under the General Data Protection Regulation, envisage closer cooperation between, and harmonisation of decisions by, data protection authorities within the EU.