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The Summer 2021 Edition of the quarterly IT & Data Protection Newsletter by Reed Smith Germany has just been released:

English version

German version

In this edition we cover the following topics:

  1. Update on international data transfers
  2. State Labour Court of Baden-Württemberg: No claim for damages for transferring personal data to the United States on

After Germany became the last EU member state to transpose Article 5(3) of the Directive 2002/58/EC, amended by Directive 2009/136/EC (ePrivacy Directive) into national law, the use of cookies in the EU must meet one of the following requirements:

  • The user’s consent, or
  • The cookie must be strictly necessary in order to provide the service explicitly requested by the user (Strictly Necessary Cookies).

The category of Strictly Necessary Cookies was previously interpreted rather narrowly. There must be a clear link between the strict necessity of the cookie and the delivery of the service. It is not sufficient that the cookie is merely necessary from an economic perspective to run a website. The Article 29 Working Party in WP194 regarded shopping cart, user authentication, security, load balancing, or multimedia player as use cases for Strictly Necessary Cookies.

The legal basis for so-called Reach Measurement Cookies has been heavily debated. Reach Measurement Cookies are statistical audience measurement tools for websites used to estimate the number of unique users, track the users’ interaction with the website and track down navigation issues. Typically, they have not been regarded as Strictly Necessary Cookies because websites can be provided to the users without measuring the users’ interactions with the websites. At the same time, Reach Measurement Cookies only provide useful findings if every users’ interactions with the websites are tracked.

In this context, the French data protection authority (CNIL) has provided guidelines (Guidelines) under which the Reach Measurement Cookies may be considered as Strictly Necessary Cookies and thus benefit from the consent exemption.Continue Reading When are Reach Measurement Cookies exempt from the consent requirement?

Catch up on our Tech Law Talks podcast series for practical observations on technology and data legal trends, from product and technology development to operational and compliance issues that practitioners encounter every day.

What’s new in data protection in the EU

It has been a busy few weeks in the EU for all things data protection, particularly data transfers. Cynthia O’Donoghue and Andy Splittgerber walk us through the new Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) for international transfers and for controllers to processors, the newly issued EDPB Supplementary Measures Recommendations, and the UK adequacy decision. (18 mins)

M365 in 5: Compliance and governance in M365

E-Discovery consultant Lighthouse returns to our M365 in 5 series for a discussion about the importance of compliance and governance in M365 and collaboration among stakeholders to balance risk and business needs. Reed Smith’s Anthony Diana and Therese Craparo join Lighthouse’s John Holliday to discuss implementing controls and managing data to mitigate risk. (8 mins)Continue Reading Tune in for the latest updates on our Tech Law Talks podcast

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted final Recommendations on Supplementary Measures (Recommendations) for data transfers to third countries, published in response to the CJEU ruling in Schrems II. The Recommendations contain a six-step methodology to assess transfers of personal data from the EEA to those countries outside the EEA that have not been approved by the European Commission as providing adequacy. The Recommendations also contain various supplementary measures that can be used if the transfer tools an organisation has selected does provide an equivalent level of protection to that offered under the GDPR and individual’s rights and freedoms under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Recommendations contain practical guidance where there is “problematic legislation” in an importing country such that public and governmental authorities would be able to access individuals’’ personal data.

The EDPB published draft recommendations for public consultation in November 2020. There are some key changes between the draft and the final Recommendations.  The final draft places a particular focus on the specific circumstances of the transfer in the data transfer assessment. It also calls organisations to review not only laws but also practices of a third country’s surveillance measures by public authorities. The final Recommendations also emphasise that use of the GDPR derogations are meant to be an exception to rule barring transfers of personal data from the EEA to third countries not otherwise deemed adequate.

The Recommendations emphasize that it is the obligation of both data exporters and data importers to ensure the level of protection set by the EU laws when they transfer data to third countries. To comply with the accountability principle under the GDPR, controllers or processors acting as data exporters must ensure that data importers collaborate with them in ensuring protection travels with the data and jointly monitor the measures taken are effective in achieving that aim.
Continue Reading EDPB adopts final recommendations on Supplementary Measures nearly a year after the CJEU’s Schrems II ruling

There is news for social media network providers operating in the European Union regarding prevention of hate speech and crimes:  Austria enacted a law against hate and crime on social networks, the Communication Platform Act (KoPl-G). Following the German Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG), both laws are intended to make the deletion procedure simpler, more transparent and shift responsibility to the social network provider.  A unified European Law, the Digital Service Act (DSA), could soon replace these local country rules.

1. The German Network Enforcement Act

The German Parliament just recently passed the law amending the NetzDG which involves some changes for social networks providers. The NetzDG, enacted in 2017 in Germany, was the first in Europe to go against hate speech and crimes on social networks (more about the provision of the NetzDG on our previous blog).

The newest amendment, which was first proposed in April 2020 (more on our previous blog) contains the simplification of the reporting channels for the complaints procedure and added information obligations for half-yearly transparency reports of the platform operators. A direct right to information against the platform operator shall be created in the Telemedia Act (TMG) for victims of illegal content in networks. The amendment for the NetzDG provides that the user may request a review of the platform provider’s decision to remove or retain reported content and has a right to have the content restored. This shall prevent the so-called “overblocking”, i.e. when legal content is removed, and strengthen the freedom of opinion of users. The network provider is now obligated to obtain comments from concerning parties and give individual reasons for each decision. Video sharing-platforms are also subject to the NetzDG according to the new Sec. 3 (e) NetzDG but only in case of user-generated videos and broadcasts.

The Spring 2021 Edition of the quarterly IT & Data Protection Newsletter by Reed Smith Germany has just been released:

English version

German version

In this edition we cover the following topics:

  1. New cookie rules in Germany will apply as of December 1, 2021
  2. German data protection authorities conduct coordinated audits on international data transfers

Today the European Commission issued the new and long-awaited Standard Contractual Clauses, available here (SCCs). These new SCCs contain updates for the GDPR, and replace the three sets of SCCs that were adopted under the previous Data Protection Directive. The SCCs released today include the following modules:

  • Controller to controller transfers,
  • Controller to processor transfers,
  • Processor to processor transfers, and
  • Processor to controller transfers.

The draft SCCs had been open to consultation in December of 2020 (more on our previous blog here). The final drafts issued today will come into effect 20 days after publication on the Official Journal of the European Union, which should be sometime between the 25th and 30th of June 2021.
Continue Reading European Commission issues New Standard Clauses for data transfers outside the EEA: Act within 18 months

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect on 25 May 2018. It became one of the leading pieces of legislation in the world to offer the highest levels of protection to the personal data of individuals. Many countries followed suit to raise the bar in how organisations handle personal data. The trend

Catch up on our Tech Law Talks podcast series for practical observations on technology and data legal trends. We cover product and technology development to operational and compliance issues that technology practitioners encounter every day.

On this channel, we host regular discussions about the legal and business issues around data protection, privacy and security; data

On April 21, 2021, a draft proposed European regulation on artificial intelligence (AI) (Regulation) was released following the European Commission’s white paper “On Artificial Intelligence – A European approach to excellence and trust”, published in February 2020. The regulation shows that the European Union is seeking to establish a legal framework for AI by laying