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Dan Cooper

Daniel Cooper is co-chair of Covington’s Data Privacy and Cyber Security Practice, and advises clients on information technology regulatory and policy issues, particularly data protection, consumer protection, AI, and data security matters. He has over 20 years of experience in the field, representing clients in regulatory proceedings before privacy authorities in Europe and counseling them on their global compliance and government affairs strategies. Dan regularly lectures on the topic, and was instrumental in drafting the privacy standards applied in professional sport.

According to Chambers UK, his "level of expertise is second to none, but it's also equally paired with a keen understanding of our business and direction." It was noted that "he is very good at calibrating and helping to gauge risk."

Dan is qualified to practice law in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Belgium. He has also been appointed to the advisory and expert boards of privacy NGOs and agencies, such as the IAPP's European Advisory Board, Privacy International and the European security agency, ENISA.

Contact:Read more about Dan CooperEmail

On April 30, 2024, the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) outlined its strategic approach (“Approach”) to artificial intelligence (“AI”).  The Approach is a response to the UK Government’s white paper: a pro-innovation approach to AI regulation and subsequent Secretary of State letter of 1 February 2024, and is the culmination of 12 months’ work by the MHRA to ensure the risks of AI are appropriately balanced with the potential transformative impact of AI in healthcare.

AI in Healthcare

AI has the potential to revolutionize the healthcare sector and improve health outcomes at every stage of healthcare provision – from preventative care through to diagnosis and treatment.  AI can help in research and development by strengthening outcomes of clinical trials, as well as being used to improve the clinical care of patients by personalizing care, improving diagnosis and treatment, enhancing the delivery of care and health system efficiency, and supplementing healthcare professionals’ knowledge, skills and competencies. Continue Reading MHRA Outlines New Strategic Approach to Artificial Intelligence

On April 22, 2024, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (“EFPIA”) issued a statement on the application of the AI Act in the medicinal product lifecycle. The EFPIA statement highlights that AI applications are likely to play an increasing role in the development and manufacture of medicines.  As drug development is already governed by a longstanding and detailed EU regulatory framework, EFPIA stresses that care should be taken to ensure that any rules on the use of AI are fit-for-purpose, adequately tailored, risk-based, and do not duplicate existing rules.  The statement sets forth five “considerations”:Continue Reading EFPIA Issues Statement on Application of the AI Act in the Medicinal Product Lifecycle

On 25 November 2020, the European Commission published a proposal for a Regulation on European Data Governance (“Data Governance Act”).  The proposed Act aims to facilitate data sharing across the EU and between sectors, and is one of the deliverables included in the European Strategy for Data, adopted in February 2020.  (See our previous blog here for a summary of the Commission’s European Strategy for Data.)  The press release accompanying the proposed Act states that more specific proposals on European data spaces are expected to follow in 2021, and will be complemented by a Data Act to foster business-to-business and business-to-government data sharing.

The proposed Data Governance Act sets out rules relating to the following:

  • Conditions for reuse of public sector data that is subject to existing protections, such as commercial confidentiality, intellectual property, or data protection;
  • Obligations on “providers of data sharing services,” defined as entities that provide various types of data intermediary services;
  • Introduction of the concept of “data altruism” and the possibility for organisations to register as a “Data Altruism Organisation recognised in the Union”; and
  • Establishment of a “European Data Innovation Board,” a new formal expert group chaired by the Commission.

Continue Reading The European Commission publishes a proposal for a Regulation on European Data Governance (the Data Governance Act)

On 11 November 2020, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) issued two draft recommendations relating to the rules on how organizations may lawfully transfer personal data from the EU to countries outside the EU (“third countries”).  These draft recommendations, which are non-final and open for public consultation until 30 November 2020, follow the EU Court of Justice (“CJEU”) decision in Case C-311/18 (“Schrems II”).  (For a more in-depth summary of the CJEU decision, please see our blog post here and our audiocast here. The EDPB also published on 24 July 2020 FAQs on the Schrems II decision here).

The two recommendations adopted by the EDPB are:

Continue Reading EDPB adopts recommendations on international data transfers following Schrems II decision

As we anticipated in a previous blog post, on April 22, 2020, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) issued new guidelines on the use of location data and contact tracing apps in the context of the present COVID-19 pandemic.

The EDPB’s new guidelines complement and build on similar guidance previously issued by the Board itself (see here, here and here), and by the European Commission (see our blog post here).

The EDPB’s close scrutiny over the use of mobile data and apps in the context of the ongoing public health crisis is unsurprising, as many EU Member States have launched—or are in the process of launching—contact tracing apps to fight the spread of the virus, and these initiatives are receiving great attention by data privacy authorities and the general public (see our blog post here).

The guidelines aim to clarify the data protection conditions and principles that should be followed when:

  • using location data to model the spread of the virus to assess the overall effectiveness of confinement measures; and
  • using contact tracing apps, which aim to notify individuals who may have been in close proximity to someone who is infected or confirmed as a carrier of the virus, in order to break the contamination chain as early as possible.

The EDPB stresses that EU data protection rules have been designed to be flexible and, as such, do not stand in the way of an efficient response to the pandemic.  However, it notes that governments and private actors should be mindful of a number of considerations when they use data-driven solutions in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.Continue Reading EDPB Issues New Guidance on the Use of Location Data and Contact Tracing in the Context of the COVID-19 Outbreak

On July 16, 2019, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) released a new draft Data sharing code of practice (“draft Code”), which provides practical guidance for organizations on how to share personal data in a manner that complies with data protection laws.  The draft Code focuses on the sharing of personal data between controllers, with a section referring to other ICO guidance on engaging processors.  The draft Code reiterates a number of legal requirements from the GDPR and DPA, while also including good practice recommendations to encourage compliance. The draft Code is currently open for public consultation until September 9, 2019, and once finalized, it will replace the existing Data sharing code of practice (“existing Code”).
Continue Reading ICO Launches Public Consultation on New Data Sharing Code of Practice