Anu Talus, Director of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), presented, on Wednesday 25 October, her priorities to the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties. Her speech focused primarily on the proposal for a regulation harmonising certain administrative procedures relating to the application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (see EUROPE 13215/2).
On the whole, she welcomed the initiative and called for its rapid adoption. In her view, the text drawn up by the European Commission takes up most of the Committee’s requests, in particular with regard to “building consensus between national data protection authorities (DPAs) by design, ensuring that complaints are dealt with more effectively and harmonising the procedural rights of the parties under investigations and the complainants”.
Ms Talus did, however, raise a number of concerns. In particular, she regrets the fact that the current proposal would require the EDPB to adopt three separate decisions before reaching a binding decision. This would compromise its ability to deliver it “within the 1+1 month deadline set by the GDPR, [which] would in turn be a source of legal uncertainty”, she explained.
In addition, she said that in order to avoid late litigation, the preliminary results of investigations should be shared between the DPAs concerned before being communicated to the parties under investigation and to complainants.
She also believes that the DPAs concerned should continue to be able to “raise relevant and reasoned objections to a draft decision, including on the scope of the investigation”.
Finally, the Director advocates that emergency decisions taken by a Member State and confirmed by the EDPB should continue to apply throughout the EU to avoid fragmentation which, “in some cases, would actually make the urgency procedure void”.
In conclusion, she pointed out that the EDPB had limited resources to deal with the growing number of complaints and appeals. Without a sufficient budget in 2024, she warned, “GDPR enforcement will be jeopardised”. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)