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Weekly Newsletter: 24 May – 28 May 2021

By Jane Murphy
Date Icon May 31, 2021
Category Icon Newsletter
GDPR EU Representative

In battle for privacy, antitrust watchdogs throw their hat in the ring

[#Google #Antitrust #Europeanunion] 
“Competition agencies are jockeying for the right to take on cases about who gets to use people’s data. […]

The European Union’s powerful competition authorities — both in Brussels and in national capitals — are elbowing their way into the world of data protection. […]

Yet where once companies feared how these data protection watchdogs would enforce Europe’s tough privacy rules (including hefty penalties), firms are increasingly worried about how antitrust regulators are homing in on data — and the potential abuse of such digital information — as the front line in their efforts to enforce global competition norms. That’s blurring the lines between antitrust and data protection, with competition watchdogs so far coming out on top because of their decades of legal enforcement experience compared with the relatively limited know-how within Europe’s privacy agencies.”

To read more: Click here.

Demystifying data transfers to US data importers: Looking at ‘Schrems II’ from a different angle

[#Datatransfer #ScrhemsII #USdatatransfers] 

“Where organizations cannot implement effective supplementary measures, the EDPB confirms the controller or processor should “suspend or end” data transfers.

The “suspend or end” statement has caused much confusion and frustration for both data exporters and importers alike. It is worthwhile to review the reality of enforcement actions against data exporters situated within the EEA. With that, let us pick out Germany as an example to showcase a regulatory intervention against a company located in Germany, with a business model dealing with the transfer of personal data to a U.S. service provider.” […]

So, we are talking about blocking international commerce because someone might be under surveillance. That sounds like killing a mosquito with a bazooka.”

To read more: Click here

U.K.’s Top Adviser Pushed Agencies to Ignore EU Data Laws 

[#Datatransfers #UKGoverment #InformationCommissionersOffice #COVID19]
“The U.K.’s former top government adviser told agencies to ignore European data protection laws to coordinate the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. […] Dominic Cummings said in a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday that he told the Information Commissioner’s Office, the country’s data regulator, to put out a notice that agencies working on the response to the coronavirus shouldn’t worry about the rules because “if someone, somewhere in the system didn’t say ignore GDPR, thousands of people were going to die.”

The government was warned that the proposed use of data risked breaking the General Data Protection Regulation and “a whole bunch of things around the European Convention of Human Rights, right to privacy, etc.”

To read more: Click here

The EDPS opens two investigations following the “Schrems II” Judgement

[#EuropeanUnion #SchremII #EuropeanCommission #Amazon #Microsoft] 
“The EDPS launched two investigations today, one regarding the use of cloud services provided by Amazon Web Services and Microsoft under Cloud II contracts by European Union institutions, bodies and agencies (EUIs) and one regarding the use of Microsoft Office 365 by the European Commission.


These investigations are part of the EDPS’ strategy for EU institutions to comply with the “Schrems II” Judgement so that ongoing and future international transfers are carried out according to EU data protection law.”

To read more: Click here