City A.M. has interviewed Howard Womersley Smith, an expert Fintech and Data lawyer and partner in Reed Smith’s Technology & Data London team, on London’s current startup FinTech scene. Sitting down with Womersley Smith, City AM reflected on a range of London Fintechs urging the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to break banks’ dominance over the … Continue Reading
Recent cases have highlighted the continued tensions between the GDPR and U.S. demands for discovery in the context of U.S. litigation and investigations. This issue can present a real concern for companies operating on both sides of the pond seeking to comply with obligations on either side. Whilst the GDPR provides EU citizens with valuable … Continue Reading
On 4 June 2020, Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Regulations 2014 (Regulations) were amended to specify that recipients of personal data located outside Singapore which are certified under the Asia‑Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross-Border Privacy Rules (APEC CBPR) System, would satisfy the cross-border data transfer requirements under Singapore’s data protection law. The same outcome would be achieved … Continue Reading
A Dutch court has held that a grandmother was in breach of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for posting pictures of her grandchildren on social media platforms without their parents’ consent and refusing to delete them after multiple requests. The GDPR does not apply to the processing of personal data by an individual “in … Continue Reading
On 13th May, the European Commission’s eHealth Network published its interoperability guidelines for approved contact tracing mobile applications in the EU, guiding developers when designing and implementing applications and backend solutions to ensure efficient tracing of cross-border infection chains. These guidelines serve as a follow-up action to their previously published ‘Common EU Toolbox for Member … Continue Reading
On 18 March, the Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom (UKTF) of the European Commission published its Draft Text of the Agreement on the New Partnership with the United Kingdom (Draft Agreement). It translates the negotiating directives, approved by Member States, into a legal text, in line with the Political Declaration agreed between … Continue Reading
The Data & Marketing Association and the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers have published a “Seven-Step Ad Tech Guide” (the Guide) to help address the privacy challenges of Real Time Bidding (RTB) in programmatic advertising. RTB is an automated auction process that allows advertising space to be bought and sold on a per-impression basis. When … Continue Reading
The Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Bill 2020 (the Bill) was published today for public consultation. Key amendments proposed in the Bill include: Increased financial penalties for breaches of the Personal Data Protection Act (the Act) of up to 10 per cent of annual gross turnover in Singapore or S$1 million, whichever is higher. Mandatory data … Continue Reading
The chair of the Council of Europe’s data protection ‘Convention 108’ committee, Alessandra Pierucci, and the Council of Europe Data Protection Commissioner, Jean-Philippe Walter, have recently released a joint statement on digital contact tracing in the fight against coronavirus. Digital contact tracing is being used in many countries to help control the spread of coronavirus … Continue Reading
On 13 November 2019, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted the guidelines on Data Protection by Design and Default (DPbDD) for public consultation (link here) until 16 January 2020, providing an in-depth analysis of the components that make up DPbDD under GDPR article 25. We highlight below some of the key definitions. Background DPbDD … Continue Reading
This week the EU’s independent data protection authority (DPA), the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), published a preliminary opinion on data protection and scientific research subject to the General Data Protection Regulation 679/2016 (GDPR) and Regulation 1725/2018 governing data protection in EU institutions (Preliminary Opinion). Regulation 1725/2018 is very similar to the GDPR’s provisions in … Continue Reading
The Finnish presidency of the Council of the EU (Finnish Presidency) released an updated draft of the Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications (ePrivacy Regulation) on October 30, 2019 (available here). The Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society (WP TELE) will discuss the new draft at its meeting on November 7, 2019. Amendments put … Continue Reading
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has prompted a series of legislative proposals in Latin American countries to update data protection regulations, many of which reflect the higher standards of the GDPR. With a large number of European and U.S. companies operating in the region, we look at some of the latest developments below. Argentina … Continue Reading
Today, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) handed down its decision in Google v. CNIL, dealing with the remit of the ‘right to be forgotten’ (RTBF). In short, the ECJ held that the operator of a search engine is not required to carry out de-referencing on all domain extensions of its search engine when dealing … Continue Reading
In its response dated 3 July 2019 (Response; file no. 19/11351, available in German here) to an inquiry by members of the German parliament (Inquiry), the German government took stand on the current draft Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications (ePrivacy Regulation), and particularly on “tracking”. The German government summarises its assessment of the ePrivacy … Continue Reading
The UK’s new prime minister, Boris Johnson, has vowed that the UK will leave the EU on October 31, 2019. A unilateral (or “hard”) Brexit poses many privacy and data protection challenges for companies that operate in the UK. Post-Brexit privacy and data protection issues that you need to consider include: how to maintain uninterrupted … Continue Reading
On July 3, 2019 the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) published an updated guidance on the use of cookies. Although the guidance confirms requirements of which most data practitioners already comply, it outlines steps for non-compliant companies. Now that the ICO has confirmed its regulatory expectations and detailed immediate enforcement, companies need to take action to … Continue Reading
On June 20, 2019 the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) published an Update Report on real-time bidding (RTB). Following the recent GDPR one-year anniversary of implementation, the ICO has made adtech a focus for the upcoming year. Although RTB has not been made obsolete, the report denotes all current RTB practices as non-compliant with the GDPR, … Continue Reading
The GDPR just had its first birthday. Before the GDPR became effective, organisations were anxious because the Regulation provides for heavy penalties. But was their anxiety justified? And as a first step, how have EU member states themselves implemented the GDPR? This article will provide short answers to these questions. Local implementation efforts Although the … Continue Reading
The recent case of Green v. Group Ltd and others [2019] EWHC 954 (Ch) dealing with Cambridge Analytica’s insolvency has clarified the approach that administrators should take when subject access requests are made to the companies over which they are appointed. A failed administration… In the aftermath of the notorious data analytics activities of Cambridge … Continue Reading
On May 22, 2019, Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Commission introduced three new initiatives: a) A public consultation on data portability. The corresponding consultation paper also proposes to introduce data innovation provisions as part of the ongoing review of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). The consultation is open for six weeks and will close on … Continue Reading
Last week, the California Assembly’s Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection, which exercises jurisdiction over privacy and personal information protection matters, approved several amendment bills intended to clarify and narrow the scope of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA or the Act). In January 2020, the CCPA will impose landmark burdens and obligations on businesses … Continue Reading
On 3 April 2019, the Conference of German Data Protection Authorities (‘German DPAs’) published a resolution on the interpretation of “certain areas of scientific research” in Recital 33 of the GDPR and the concept of ‘broad consent’ (‘Resolution’). According to Recital 33 of the GDPR, it “is often not possible to fully identify the purpose … Continue Reading
The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) met for its ninth plenary session on 9 and 10 April 2019. The EDPB discussed a number of issues concerning the application of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR), outlined in the agenda. One of the key developments was the adoption of draft guidelines by the EDPB on … Continue Reading
