By Dr. Thomas Nietsch and Andreas Müller
On July 24, 2024, the OLG Hamm ruled that claims for moral damages under Art. 82 GDPR are generally assignable (case number: 11 U 69/23).
Read MoreBy Claude-Étienne Armingaud & Sophie Verstraeten
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) recently launched a consultation series on how data protection laws should apply to the development and use of generative AI models (“Gen AI”). In the coming months, the ICO will publish further views on how to interpret specific requirements of UK GDPR and Part 2 of the DPA 2018 in relation to Gen AI. This first part of the consultation focusses on whether it is lawful to train Gen AI on personal data scraped from the web. The consultation seeks feedback from stakeholders with an interest in Gen AI.
Read MoreIn its judgment dated 7 December 2023 (C-634/21 – Schufa) presented by the Administrative Court Wiesbaden (Germany), the court held that Article 22 of the GDPR (Art. 22 GDPR) applies also to probability values that are created by credit scoring agencies on the basis of personal data and used by third parties in order to decide whether the respective individual is eligible for a credit or establishing a contract.
Read MoreIn a judgment dated 5 December 2023 (Case C-807/21 – Deutsche Wohnen) presented by the Higher Regional Court Berlin (Kammergericht), the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU) held that a German law permitting administrative fines against corporate entities where an identified legal representative of that entity was proven to have committed a criminal or administrative offence, which at the same time led to the corporate entity breaching its obligations, is not in line with GDPR.
Read MoreBy Claude-Étienne Armingaud and Sophie Verstraeten
The UK’s Information Commissioner (the “ICO”) has recently sent warnings to the UK’s most visited websites to inform them that they may face enforcement action if they do not make changes to their cookie banner to ensure compliance with UK data protection law. For example, some websites warned by the ICO do not provide their user with a fair choice on tracking for personalised advertising. This position aligns with the EU’s stance, noting France (see prior Alert here).
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By Noirin M. McFadden and Claude-Étienne Armingaud
Today, the UK data protection regulator, the ICO, has published guidance to assist employers in responding to data subject access requests (DSARs) from current and former employees. DSARs have become the primary tool for employees attempting to gain leverage against employers during a dispute or grievance process: they can be extremely time-consuming and resource intensive for employers to deal with, and it is a difficult balance to strike between upholding employees’ right of access under the UK GDPR and applying exemptions from disclosure in an appropriate way.
The new guidance covers issues that often occur when employers try to strike this balance, and notably:
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By Cameron Abbott, Stephanie Mayhew and Dadar Ahmadi-Pirshahid
Argentina’s Data Protection Authority, the Agency for Access to Public Information (the Agency), has published a draft bill that proposes to bring Argentina’s 22 year old data protection law more in line with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.
Amongst other things, the bill modernises Argentina’s data protection law to deal with more recent issues including cloud computing, biometric and genetic data. It provides greater scope for international transfers of information by allowing transfers under the sanction of adequate data protection guarantees in the absence of a decision by the Agency that the importing country has adequate data protection. It additionally requires Data Controllers to document and notify the Agency of data breaches within 48 hours of becoming aware of a breach.
The draft bill is open for public comment until 30 September 2022. Any entity wishing to submit commentary is encouraged to reach out to K&L Gates to help facilitate the submission process.
By Claude-Étienne Armingaud, Nóirín McFadden and Keisha Phippen
The UK Government has finally published its highly anticipated Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (the Bill), marking the first significant post-Brexit change to the UK’s data protection regime. Following Brexit, the UK continued following the EU General Data Protection Regulation, incorporated into UK law as the UK GDPR, and the UK implementation of the EU ePrivacy Directive, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), also remained in force.
The Bill is only at the start of the legislative process, and it remains to be seen how it will develop if it is amended during its passage through Parliament, but early indications are that it represents more of an evolution than a revolution in the UK regime. That will come as a relief to businesses that transfer personal data from the EU to the UK, because it reduces the risk that the EU might rescind the UK’s adequacy status.
For a start, the Bill actually preserves the UK GDPR, its enabling legislation the Data Protection Act 2018, and the PECR, because it is drafted as an amending act rather than a completely new legislative instrument. This does not contribute to user-friendliness, as interpreting UK data protection requirements will require a great deal of cross-referencing across texts.
The more eye-catching proposed changes in the Bill include:
The Bill will now progress through various Parliamentary stages over the coming months in order to become law.
By Claude-Étienne Armingaud and Nóirín McFadden
In the Queen’s speech at the state opening of parliament on 10 May 2022, the UK government announced its intention to change the UK’s data protection regime in a new Data Reform Bill. This follows a consultation last Autumn on how the UK GDPR could be reformed following the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU).
The government claims that the new Bill would:
The Queen’s speech also announced plans to replace the Human Rights Act 1998, which incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. According to the government a new “Bill of Rights” would “end the abuse of the human rights framework and restore some common sense to [the] justice system”. This would be achieved by “establishing the primacy of UK case law”, which means that UK courts would no longer be required to follow the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.
Taken together, both of these proposed new legislative measures could change the balance of protection of individuals’ rights in the UK, both generally and in the specific area of personal data regulation. Their development will be closely watched by data protection professionals, because any significant changes in the UK data protection regime could prompt the EU to review its post-Brexit UK adequacy decision, potentially leading to the end of decades of seamless transfers of personal data from the EU to the UK.
By Claude-Etienne Armingaud, Andrew L. Chung, Camille Scarparo and Eric Yoon
Following the conclusion of the adequacy talks in March 2021, the European Commission has adopted on 17 December 2021 an adequacy decision addressing the transfers of personal data to the Republic of Korea under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Law Enforcement Directive.
Both texts prohibit the transfer of personal data to “third countries” unless (a) the destination country benefits from (i) an adequacy decision or (ii) appropriate safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses (see our alert here) or codes of conduct (see our alert here); or (b) one of the limited derogations under Article 49 GDPR applies.
With regards to the adequacy talks, the Republic of Korea agreed on the implementation of additional safeguards. Accordingly, the reform of Republic of Korea’s data protection framework (the Personal Information Protection Act) in August 2020, implemented several additional safeguards including transparency provisions and enforcement power strengthening of the Personal Information Protection Commission (§70).
The Republic of Korea adequacy decision complements the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) of July 2011 and allows a seamless flow of personal data between the Republic of Korea and the European Union.
Unlike the UK adequacy decision which contains a sunset clause (see our alert here), the Republic of Korea adequacy decision is not limited in time. However, pursuant to Article 45.3 GDPR, the European Commission carry out a first review of the decision after three years to evaluate any evolution in the Republic of Korea data protection framework, that would lead to divergence with the EU regulations (§220).
The Republic of Korea now belongs to the increasing group of third countries benefiting from an adequacy decision (including, since GDPR’s entry into force, Japan and the UK).
The firm’s global data protection team (including in each of our European offices) remains available to assist you in achieving the compliance of your data transfers at global levels.
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