One of the breaking news today that the Italian data protection authority (Garante) has decided to block the use of ChatGPT and the related data processing activities in Italy with immediate effect. In connection with the use of ChatGPT, the star of artificial intelligence (AI) developments in…
Data transfers to the USA: is the new Privacy Shield coming?
The European Commission and the United States announced in a joint statement earlier this year that an agreement on the principles of a new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework had been reached. After this announcement, everyone has been waiting for the publication of the Executive Order to be…
The EU Commission has published its proposal for the Data Act
An important step in the development of EU data law is the publication of the first draft of the Data Act, which took place on 23 February. The proposal is based on the EU's data strategy of 2020. The proposal seeks to create harmonised rules that promote access to data, the sharing of data assets…
Data protection herd immunity
The past bit more than one year has been in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic and a number of concepts that have previously been used only in scientific publications have become part of the public discussion. These include, among others, reproduction rate, flattening of the epidemic curve, and…
Are we close to a final e-Privacy Regulation?
The draft e-Privacy Regulation had a fairly adventurous journey in the last 4 years, following the publication of its first version by the Commission in January 2017. Dozens of versions of the regulation have been prepared during the successive EU presidencies, but no consensus has been reached…
The long and winding road: data transfers from the EU to the UK
The Parties reached and agreement on the terms and conditions of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the EU and the UK almost at the last minutes before the post-Brexit transition period ends on 31 December 2020. (The TCA is still subject to final approval.)
The text of the draft…
International data transfers after Schrems II
One of the most important data protection related news this summer is the European Court of Justice's judgment in Schrems II case published on 16th of July (Case C-311/18, Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Ltd, and Maximillian Schrems).
The judgment contains the following main…
Quo vadis e-Privacy Regulation?
On November 22, the Permanent Representatives Committee of the Council of the European Union (COREPER) rejected the Council’s position on the draft e-Privacy Regulation. This means that the acceptance of the long-awaited e-Privacy Regulation that should complement the GDPR is still not on the…
Can blockchain technology be GDPR-compliant?
Study on the relationship between blockchain technology and the GDPR
The European Parliament published a study that examines whether distributed ledgers can be squared with European data protection law. The study consists three main parts: (i) it discusses blockchain technology and the tensions between the use of such technology and the GDPR, (ii) it explores the…
New rules regarding open data and the re-use of public sector information
A new EU directive on open data and the re-use of public sector information has been published (Directive 2019/1024). The new directive replaces Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information, as amended by Directive 2013/37/EU. The new directive shall be implemented by Member…