Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionise many industries; it has been said that “blockchain will do to the financial system what the internet did to media”. Its most famous use is its role as the architecture of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, however it has many other potential uses in the financial sector, for instance in … Continue Reading
By Bruce Bennett, Carlo Kostka, Charlotte Hill, Craig Pollack, Dan Cooper, Gemma Nash, Kristof Van Quathem, Mark Young, and Sophie Bertin The EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which took effect on January 13, 2018, puts an obligation on banks to give Third Party Providers (TPPs) access to a customer’s payment account data, provided the customer expressly … Continue Reading
On January 12, the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas closed its doors for another year. Each CES raises a new set of technology themes, ranging from robots to smart fridges — and this year, the winner was voice technologies. Such technologies, while not entirely new, are now becoming mainstream: sales of smart … Continue Reading
As we summarized last fall, the EU Commission published a new Cybersecurity Communication in September that, among other things, sets out proposals for an EU cybersecurity certification framework as part of an EU “Cybersecurity Act” (see our post here and a more detailed summary here). Just before the holidays, on December 20, 2017, the UK Government published a consultation on these proposals, which the … Continue Reading
By Mark Young, Joseph Jones and Ruth Scoles Mitchell The Article 29 Working Party (WP29) has published long-awaited draft guidance on transparency and consent under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). We are continuing to analyze the lengthy guidance documents, but wanted to highlight some immediate reactions and aspects of the guidance that we think … Continue Reading
The European Commission has today published its Report on the first annual review of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield (the Report is accompanied with a Staff Working Document, Infographic, and Q&A). The Commission concludes that Privacy Shield continues to ensure an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred from the EU to Privacy Shield-certified companies … Continue Reading
By Joseph Jones and Ruth Scoles Mitchell On October 3, 2017, the Irish High Court referred Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Limited [2016 No. 4809 P.] to the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”). The case, commonly referred to as Schrems II, is based on a complaint by Max Schrems concerning the transfer … Continue Reading
On September 13, 2017, the UK Government published a new Data Protection Bill regulating the use of individuals’ personal data. The Bill, which is intended to replace the UK Data Protection Act 1998, would serve a range of functions, most notably setting out how the UK intends to make use of its leeway to derogate … Continue Reading
Last week, in his annual State of the European Union Address, the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker called out cybersecurity as a key priority for the European Union in the year ahead. In terms of ranking priorities, President Juncker placed tackling cyber threats just one place below the EU leading the fight against … Continue Reading
On 13 September, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) published draft guidance on GDPR contracts and liabilities on contracts between controllers and processors under the GDPR (the “Guidance”). The ICO is consulting on the Guidance until 10 October. We summarize the key aspects of the Guidance below.… Continue Reading
On September 5, 2017, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) issued its ruling on appeal in the case of Bărbulescu v. Romania, concerning alleged unlawful workplace monitoring of Mr. Barbulescu’s private communications. Overturning the ECtHR’s prior ruling in the case (covered by Inside Privacy here), the Grand Chamber held that … Continue Reading
Earlier this month, the UK Government published a consultation on plans to implement the EU Directive on security of network and information systems (the “NIS Directive”, otherwise known as the Cybersecurity Directive). The consultation includes a proposal to fine firms that fail to implement “appropriate and proportionate security measures” up to EUR 20 million or … Continue Reading
By Lisa Peets, Ezra Steinhardt, and Rosie Klement On July 14, 2017, the Impact Assessment Institute (“IAI”) (an independent institute committed to impartial impact assessment and scientific evaluation of policy and legislation in the EU) published a study assessing the impact assessment carried out by the European Commission in connection with the Commission’s proposal for … Continue Reading
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”), which enforces data protection legislation in the UK, has ruled that the NHS Royal Free Foundation Trust (“Royal Free”), which manages a London hospital, failed to comply with the UK Data Protection Act 1998 in providing 1.6 million patient records to Google DeepMind (“DeepMind”), requiring the Royal Free to … Continue Reading
By Dan Cooper and Rosie Klement The EU’s Article 29 Working Party (“WP29”) has issued new guidance on data processing in the employment context. Adopted on June 8, 2017, the guidance primarily takes account of the existing data protection framework under the EU Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC), but also considers the developments coming into force … Continue Reading
In a new post on the Covington Digital Health blog, our colleagues discuss a new European Cloud in Health Advisory Council whitepaper calling for a review of European healthcare data protection rules holding back greater adoption of cloud computing and AI; and for more discussion about the ethics and governance of re-use of patient data for research and planning. To read … Continue Reading
On Thursday, April 20th, the UK government launched a “Call for Views” regarding the UK’s options for the implementation of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) at national level. The consultation deadline is May 10th, at mid-day UK time. Although the GDPR was an effort to bring greater harmonization to data protection regimes … Continue Reading
By Luca Tosoni and Dan Cooper On 2 February 2017, the Italian DPA (“Garante”) imposed a record fine of 5,880,000 Euros on a UK company operating in Italy for its violation of the data privacy consent rules contained in Italian law. This is the largest data privacy fine ever issued by a European data protection … Continue Reading
On March 9, 2017, the Court of Justice of the EU (“CJEU”) handed down a ruling limiting the reach of its prior “right to be forgotten” jurisprudence, by holding that the right does not prevail over society’s interest in access to official public records of company details required by law.… Continue Reading
By Dan Cooper and Rosie Klement On March 2, 2017, the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) released draft guidance for UK organizations on how the notion of consent will be interpreted and applied when the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) comes into force in May 2018. The ICO is currently engaging in a public consultation on … Continue Reading
On February 9, 2017, six Democratic senators wrote to DHS Secretary John Kelly about their concerns over a Trump executive order that would remove Privacy Act protections for non-U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. Senators Ed Markey (MA), Ron Wyden (OR), Jeff Merkley (OR), Al Franken (MN), Chris Coons (DE), and Mazie Hirono (HI) wrote … Continue Reading
On January 12, 2017, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced the adoption of a Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield, to replace the existing Swiss-U.S. Safe Harbor Agreement. Companies have a three month grace period to switch from the old to the new regime. The Swiss version of the Privacy Shield had to be negotiated following the invalidation … Continue Reading
By Joseph Jones, Phil Bradley-Schmieg and Gemma Nash On December 21, 2016 the Court of Justice of European Union (“CJEU”) issued its judgment in Joined Cases C-203/15 and C-698/15, Tele2 /Watson. The decision considered the legality of UK and Swedish laws permitting the generalized retention of communications metadata (for 6-12 months) for the purposes of … Continue Reading
The Article 29 Working Party (“WP29”) – the representatives of national data protection regulators in the EU – has issued new guidance on three important aspects of the new General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which comes into force in May 2018. This first salvo of GDPR-focused guidance concerns: the new “Right to Data Portability”, an … Continue Reading
