Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum

What is the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum?

The Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) is a voluntary forum comprising four UK regulators with remits covering digital regulation: 

• The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
• the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
• Ofcom. 

Established in 2020, the DRCF facilitates collaboration between its member bodies by bringing together their respective expertise in regulating digital services. Its aim is to bring clarity to the regulatory landscape and improve coherence across its members’ remits. ³⁰ Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum, ‘About the DRCF’, DRCF, no date, accessed 19 January 2025, www.drcf.org.uk/about-us   

The DRCF has around 20 full-time staff, who are either seconded in from the member regulators or employed through arrangements with Ofcom. Its leadership consists of a chair, and a CEO who is accountable to the CEOs of the member regulators. The chair position is held by one of the member CEOs on a rotational basis. The DRCF’s current chair is Sarah Cardell (CEO of the ICO) and the CEO is Kate Jones.

What does the DRCF do?

The DRCF was established to enable UK regulators to respond to the pace of innovation and the global nature of large digital platforms through collaboration. Its terms of reference set out three general goals: to promote coherence where regulatory remits overlap, to collaborate in areas of joint interest, and to build necessary capabilities for the future through cooperation. ³¹ Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum, DRCF Terms of Reference (ToR), DRCF, no date, accessed 19 January 2025, www.drcf.org.uk/siteassets/drcf/home/drcf-terms-of-reference.pdf?v=379416  

A key function is to facilitate member regulators to share cross-cutting experience and expertise with each other to build shared skills, while maintaining their individual statutory purposes. This allows the ICO, FCA, CMA and Ofcom to develop a joined-up approach, reducing unnecessary duplication of regulation and supporting innovation and growth. The DRCF also engages with external stakeholders, such as academia, the private sector, and government bodies (for example the Regulatory Innovation Office), to develop networks of contacts and increase the impact of its outputs.

An example of an initiative led by the DRCF in this vein was the AI and Digital Hub, a year-long pilot of an advice service to help innovators get their “products and services to market responsibly, faster and with greater confidence.” ³² Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum, ‘AI and Digital Hub’, no date, accessed 26 January 2025, www.drcf.org.uk/ai-and-digital-hub  The Hub allowed businesses working in AI or digital that were regulated by at least two DRCF members to submit queries and meet with the DRCF to receive informal advice and support. The DRCF then published a series of anonymised case studies based on the Hub that other businesses can use. ³³ Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum, ‘Case Studies’, no date, accessed 26 January 2025, www.drcf.org.uk/case-study  

As well as knowledge-sharing to simplify the digital regulation landscape, the DRCF also conducts ‘horizon scanning’ to monitor emerging technologies. This process allows the DRCF to prepare for the impact of technological developments and understand regulatory risks to innovators, policy makers and wider industry. Technologies the DRCF has researched as part of such work in the past include digital ID, quantum computing and the Metaverse. ³⁴ Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum, ‘Emerging Technologies and Horizon Scanning’, DRCF, 27 April 2023, www.drcf.org.uk/projects/projects/horizon-scanning-and-emerging-technology  

The DRCF’s strategic priorities for the period from 2024–2027 are: 

• Protecting and empowering people online
• Unlocking innovation and growth
• Supporting effectiveness of regulation
• Leading domestic and international discussions of digital regulation
• Anticipating future developments (for example, Agentic AI systems). ³⁵ Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum, 2025/26 Workplan, DRCF, 30 April 2025, www.drcf.org.uk/publications/work-plans/drcf-workplan-202526, p. 6

In addition to its domestic role, the DRCF also works internationally – it launched the International Network for Digital Regulation Cooperation (INDRC) in 2023 to connect digital regulators from around the world and encourage cooperation in their own jurisdictions. The INDRC consists of the cooperation forums of Ireland, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Austria alongside the DRCF. ³⁶ Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum, ‘International Network for Digital Regulation Cooperation’, DRCF, 18 June 2024, www.drcf.org.uk/projects/projects/international-network-for-digital-regulation-cooperation-indrc

How could the DRCF be enhanced?

In its 2021 report on digital regulation, the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee welcomed the (then new) role of the DRCF but also made several recommendations on how it could be improved. It called for the DRCF to be placed on a statutory footing, with an appointed chair who would be independent of the member regulators and accountable to parliament. It also recommended statutory duties be introduced on member regulators to cooperate and consult with each other. 

The committee argued that these measures would give the DRCF the powers to direct its members, improve its accountability and strengthen the ability of its members to jointly regulate. ⁴¹ House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee, Digital regulation: Joined-up and accountable, House of Lords, 13 December 2021, https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/8186/documents/83794/default/, p. 15  It also argued that the DRCF’s membership be expanded to other regulators “with significant interests and expertise in the digital sphere” which would improve its horizon-scanning and knowledge-sharing capacity. ⁴² House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee, Digital regulation: Joined-up and accountable, House of Lords, 13 December 2021, https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/8186/documents/83794/default/, p. 12   

In oral evidence given to the Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, members of the DRCF argued that any new regulator seeking to join ought to have an overlap in its remit with all four of the current members. Kate Jones, CEO of the DRCF, made the case that the value gained from collaborating with smaller regulators would have to be weighed against the costs incurred by cooperation. She highlighted that the DRCF often interacted with other regulators without them having to join as members. ⁴³ House of Commons, ‘Oral evidence: Governance of Artificial Intelligence’, Hansard, HC 945, 25 October 2023, https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/13728/html/, Q622  John Edwards of the ICO also cautioned against excessively widening the membership – expanding the DRCF to include, for example, the “27 or 30 regulators that an AI innovator may have to interact with” would be unwieldy and would limit its effectiveness. ⁴⁴ House of Commons, ‘Oral evidence: Governance of Artificial Intelligence’, Hansard, HC 945, 25 October 2023, https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/13728/html/, Q623