On February 1, 2019, China’s National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee (“TC260”) released a set of amendments to GB/T 35273-2017 Information Technology – Personal Information Security Specification (“the Standard”) for public comment. The comment period ends on March 3. Although not legally binding, the Standard has been highly influential since becoming effective in May 2018, … Continue Reading
On January 24, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) adopted a report (“Report”) regarding the second annual review of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield (“Privacy Shield”). In a press release accompanying the Report, the EDPB welcomed efforts by EU and U.S. authorities to implement the Privacy Shield, including in particular the recent appointment of a permanent … Continue Reading
[Update to previous post from August 17, 2018] On January 23, 2019, the European Commission and Japan mutually recognized each other’s data protection laws as providing an adequate level of protection of personal data (see European Commission press release here). As a result, nearly all personal data can now flow freely between the EU and … Continue Reading
Introduction In late 2018, the Upper Tribunal of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal released two significant decisions as to the Freedom of Information Act 2000, section 35, which provides the government a limited basis to withhold communications from disclosure. These are Department for Education v Information Commissioner & Whitmey [2018] UKUT 348 and Cabinet Office v … Continue Reading
On January 21, 2019, the French Supervisory Authority for data protection (“CNIL”) issued a fine of €50 million against Google for violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) (the decision was published in French here). The CNIL’s decision was triggered by complaints from two non-profit organizations together representing 9974 individuals. The case raises a … Continue Reading
On 10 January 2018, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that the Republic of Azerbaijan violated Articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by failing to adequately investigate claims by an Azerbaijani journalist that she had been the victim of political blackmail. The ECtHR’s ruling follows upon reports … Continue Reading
On January 10, 2019, Advocate General Szpunar of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) released his opinion regarding a 2016 enforcement action carried out by the French Supervisory Authority (CNIL) against Google. In that case, the CNIL ordered Google to de-reference links to webpages containing personal data. According to the CNIL, the … Continue Reading
On 30 November 2018, the Austrian Data Protection Authority (“DPA”) decided that the website of an online media publisher – which offers users the option to either consent to advertising cookies or pay for a subscription – gives users a free choice that is compatible with the requirements of consent under the GDPR. (The decision … Continue Reading
Earlier this week, the European Commission (“Commission”) published its Report on the second annual review of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield (“Privacy Shield”) (the Report is accompanied by a Staff Working Document). The Report concludes that the Privacy Shield “continues to ensure an adequate level of protection” for personal data transferred from the EU to the … Continue Reading
On 18 December 2018, the EU High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (the “AI HLEG”) published new draft guidance on “AI Ethics” (the “guidance”). The AI HLEG is a European Commission-backed working group made up of representatives from industry, academia and NGOs, and was formed as part of the Commission’s ongoing work to develop EU … Continue Reading
On December 13, 2018, the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) in the United Kingdom issued guidance on the state of UK data protection law should the country leave the European Union (“EU”) without having reached an agreement on the terms of its withdrawal. Much of this latest guidance is consistent with the ICO’s earlier guidance on … Continue Reading
Under the Data Protection Directive (now superseded by the General Data Protection Regulation, “GDPR”), it was disputed whether a violation of the German Data Protection Law transposing the Directive could serve as a basis for anti-competition claims under the German Act Against Unfair Competition (“Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb”, “UWG”). Since the entry into force … Continue Reading
On November 23, 2018, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) issued draft Guidelines 3/2018 on the territorial scope of the GDPR (Article 3) (“Guidelines”). As per standard procedure, the EDPB has published this first version of the Guidelines to allow for public consultation about its contents over the next several months. At the conclusion of … Continue Reading
In early November, the Dutch Supervisory Authority released an injunction imposed against the public insurance body Uitvoeringsinstituut Werkgeversverzekering (“UWV”) last July. The UWV allows employers to submit data about their employees for social security purposes. The data includes dates of employee absences due to general illness (and when an employee is pregnant or gave birth, … Continue Reading
Earlier this year, in the run-up to the General Data Protection Regulation’s (“GDPR”) May 25, 2018 date of application, a major question for stakeholders was how zealously the GDPR would be enforced. Now, as the GDPR approaches its six-month birthday, an answer to that question is rapidly emerging. Enforcement appears to be ramping up significantly. … Continue Reading
On November 6, 2018, the French data protection authority (the “CNIL”) published a report that discusses some of the questions raised by the use of blockchain technology and perceived tensions between it and foundational principles found in the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”). As we noted in an earlier blog post on this topic, … Continue Reading
Canada’s new data breach law, The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”), took effect on November 1. Official guidance released by the country’s Privacy Commissioner explains a few of the law’s key provisions that will affect organizations, specifically, breach reporting and notification obligations, their triggers, and record retention. Reporting & Notification Obligations Under the … Continue Reading
On July 17, 2018, the Portuguese Supervisory Authority (“CNPD”) imposed a fine of 400.000 € on a hospital for infringement of the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). The decision has not been made public. Earlier this week, the hospital publicly announced that it will contest the fine. According to press reports, the CNPD … Continue Reading
On October 18, 2018, the Dutch Supervisory Authority for data protection adopted guidance on the second Payment Service Directive (“PSD2”). The PSD2 intends to open the financial services market to a larger scale of innovative online services. To that effect, the PSD2 sets out rules for obtaining access to the financial information of bank customers. … Continue Reading
On September 5, 2018, a first instance Administrative Court in Italy decided that a public company cannot reject an application for the position of data protection officer (“DPO”) on the basis that the applicant is not a certified ISO 27001 Auditor / Lead Auditor (decision available here). ISO 27001 is an international information security standard. … Continue Reading
On September 30, 2018, China’s Ministry of Public Security (“MPS”) released the Regulation on the Internet Security Supervision and Inspection by Public Security Organs (the “Regulation”;《公安机关互联网安全监督检查规定》), which will take effect on November 1, 2018.… Continue Reading
On October 23, 2018, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries in cooperation with the Future of Privacy Forum and the Center for Information Policy Leadership will organize a workshop entitled, “Can GDPR Work for Health Research.” In the first session, the workshop will discuss the implications of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) on clinical … Continue Reading
By Grace Kim and Siobhan Kahmann Following an informal consultation earlier this year – as covered by our previous IoT Update here – the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (“DCMS”) published the final version of its Code of Practice for Consumer IoT Security (“Code”) on October 14, 2018. This was developed by … Continue Reading
In August 2018, the Government of Australia unveiled a new proposed bill that would grant the county’s national security and law enforcement agencies additional powers when confronting encrypted communications and devices. The text of the draft Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 (the “Assistance and Access Bill” or the “Bill”) states … Continue Reading
