National EU member state courts, as well as the European Court of Justice, have struggled for several years to define the scope of application of EU data protection law in individual member states. In a decision that provides important guidelines on the competence of, and co-operation between, national data protection authorities, the ECJ has clarified how data protection law applies in cross-border situations within the EU.
Jan Spittka
EU Data Protection: ECJ Extends the Long Arm of the Law
PART 10: Enforcement and the Risk of Non-Compliance
One of the major purposes of the Regulation is to ensure a consistent application of data protection law throughout the EU, not only to provide a high level of data protection but also to guarantee legal certainty for businesses when handling personal data. This has presented legislators with one of their biggest challenges: how to maintain the existing network of independent national DPAs, whilst ensuring that they promote a consistent interpretation of the Regulation and minimising the number of different DPAs which a controller has to deal with. It remains to be seen whether they have devised a workable solution. This entry is an excerpt from Hogan Lovells’ “Future-proofing privacy: A guide to preparing for the EU Data Protection Regulation.”
Germany: Pay-As-You-Drive-Insurance – First German Data Protection Authority Issues Requirements
Telematics-based pay-as-you-drive insurance is a new, innovative and not yet proven product from the insurance industry. This new product collects information about the driving behavior associated with the vehicle and therefore raises privacy issues for the drivers. The Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information for North Rhine-Westphalia is the first German data protection authority to evaluate a pay-as-you-drive product and has recently published its requirements for data protection and data security compliance.