Joint Statements

Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have published a joint statement about collaboration on the regulation of online services where online safety and data protection intersect. The statement sets out how the two regulators will work together on areas of mutual interest to achieve a coherent approach to regulation. It builds on a joint statement published in November 2022 that envisioned working together more closely to achieve greater alignment. 

The online world is changing, and with it the regulatory landscape. Ofcom and the ICO will work together to provide a clear and coherent regulatory landscape for online services that is proportionate, transparent and outcome-focused, and to regulate in a way that helps online service providers comply with their legal obligations and create safe and trusted online spaces. To do this, they will maximise coherence between the data protection and online safety regimes and work together to promote compliance with them, by maximising coherence and promoting compliance. This joint statement sets out how they will work together in more detail.

Online services have become central to how most of us live our lives. This has generated significant benefits for people but has also created new concerns about the potential for consumer harm. This statement is part of a work programme to support wider cooperation among digital regulators and to ensure a coherent approach to tackling concerns about online activities. It has been developed by the Digital Regulation Co-operation Forum (DRCF) in collaboration with the CMA and Ofcom’s co-members, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

This joint statement from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) sets out their shared views on the close and often complex relationship between these issues and on the importance of close working between the two organisations on these matters in the coming years, as well as highlighting the progress that they have already made. The matters addressed in this document are complex and rapidly evolving, and they therefore expect their views and responses to these challenges will need to evolve as well.