First Report on Evaluation of GDPR by the European Commission
On June 24, 2020, the European Commission (“the Commission”) submitted its first report on the evaluation and review of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) to the European Parliament and Council. The report is required under Article 97 of the GDPR and will be produced at four year intervals going forward.
Its main findings are addressing:
- The enforcement of the GDPR and the functioning of the cooperation and consistency mechanisms
- Harmonised rules against fragmentation and diverging approaches
- Empowerment of individuals to control their data
- Opportunities and challenges for organisations (especially SMEs)
- Application of GDPR to new technologies
In its report, the Commission concludes that generally the GDPR has successfully met its objectives, namely those of strengthening personal data protection and guaranteeing the free flow of personal data within the EU. However, it is still too soon to draw definitive conclusions to the existing level of fragmentation given “the short period of practical experience since the GDPR has become applicable, and the fact that sector-specific legislation is still being revised in many Member States”. You can find the full report here.
DataPRO project aims to incorporate the new digital mentality that is being shaped to companies, employees and young learners, while responding to the fragmented certification system in the field. The project will support the preparation and setting-up of a new Joint VET Curricula for data protection officers that is going to cover “horizontally” the main areas of skills and competences and share a common learning experience among them at a European level. From our research on the current VET curricula, differentiation among offered courses (regarding duration, learning material, etc) hardens the development of a harmonised common approach and sharing of new ideas on actual needs in the data privacy sector.