German Parliament approves Data Protection Act to implement the GDPR

Posted on by Federica Romanelli
On April 28, 2017, the Deutscher Bundestag, the German Parliament adopted the Federal Data Protection Act (Datenschutz-Anpassungs- und -Umsetzungsgesetz EU – DSANPUG-EU). The Act implements in Germany the provisions of Regulation 2016/679, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) . The Federal Council shall now approve the law, which will enter into force at the same time of the GDPR, on May 25, 2018. The DSANPUG-EU is available in German here. More information on the GDPR Read more [...]

ICO issues data sharing code of practice

Posted on by Federica Romanelli
The Information Commissioner Officer (ICO) published the data sharing code of practice. The document is a statutory code, issued by the under section 52 of the Data Protection Act (meaning that the code  has been approved by the Secretary of State laid before Parliament). It is not an authoritative statement of the law but it can be used in evidence in any legal proceedings. The code explains how the UK Data Protection Act applies to the sharing of personal data. “It provides practical advice Read more [...]

WhatsApp was issued a EUR 3 million fine for forcing users to share their personal data with Facebook

Posted on by Federica Romanelli
On May 11, 2017, the Italian Antitrust Authority (Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato “ICA”) found that WhatsApp infringed the Italian Consumer Code. In particular, according to the ICA, WhatsApp forced the users of its service “to accept in full the new Terms of Use, and specifically the provision to share their personal data with Facebook, by inducing them to believe that without granting such consent they would not have been able to use the service anymore.” The company Read more [...]

EDPS calls for strong and smart new rules to protect confidentiality of communications with Opinion 6/2017

Posted on by Federica Romanelli
On April 24, 2017, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) released Opinion 6/2017 on the Proposal for a Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications (ePrivacy Regulation Proposal). The EDPS welcomes the Proposal for the Regulation. There is a need of “a specific legal tool to protect the right to private life guaranteed by Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, of which confidentiality of communications is an essential component”; a tool that would complete the GDPR (Regulation Read more [...]

Facebook fined EUR 150,000 by French DPA for WhatsApp’s unlawful tracking

Posted on by Federica Romanelli
On May 16, 2017, the French, Belgian and Dutch members of the Data Protection Contact Group published the results of their investigations after WhatsApp issued its new privacy policy in August 2015, after joining Facebook. See here. The DPAs all over the world watched the changes closely and several EU authorities initiated national investigations to verify, among others: the quality of the information provided to users; and the validity of consent and the processing of personal data Read more [...]