On 25 May 2018, the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force. Since then, companies and organizations have been required to comply with significantly stricter data protection requirements. The digital association Bitkom takes stock after two years of GDPR and sharply criticizes the regulation.
According to a Bitkom company survey, eight out of ten companies see data protection requirements as the biggest hurdle when implementing new technologies. This represents an increase of 5 percentage points compared to the previous year. In 2018, less than two-thirds of the companies surveyed viewed data protection as such a major problem.
Even in the current crisis situation, data protection dominates many other rights such as the right to physical integrity, freedom of assembly, freedom of trade or access to school education, says Bitkom President Achim Berg:
"On the one hand, extensive restrictions on fundamental rights are accepted, while at the same time, the release of a tracing app that would have freed people from many restrictions failed due to data protection concerns. Schools cannot resume classes and are losing effective contact with many students; at the same time, teachers are categorically prohibited from using many well-functioning video platforms, citing data protection concerns."
The “previously well-balanced system of freedoms and rights of protection” has been thrown out of balance by the General Data Protection Regulation.
Bitkom calls for relaxation of the General Data Protection Regulation
While the association welcomes the fact that general awareness of data protection has increased significantly as a result of the GDPR, in practice, the interpretation varies too widely across member states. Many companies have still not been able to implement all of the requirements. Berg says:
"Many believe that a complete implementation of the GDPR is impossible. The supervisory authorities, for their part, are faced with an overwhelming flood of requests. As a result, there are significant personnel and financial costs on all sides."
As part of the planned evaluation of the GDPR, the Bitkom President is calling for relief for small businesses and fundamental simplifications. The use of data for research purposes should also be made easier.
