Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) look into possible changes and improvements that could be made, two years after the application of the General Data Protection Regulation. Juan Fernando LÓPEZ AGUILAR (S&D, ES), LIBE Chair, and Axel VOSS (EPP, DE), shadow rapporteur in 2018, give a statement on the Commission evaluation report on the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Brussels

statement

LÓPEZ AGUILAR, Juan Fernando (S&D, ES)

protection of personal data (T)

reform of the UE Data Protection Framework (T)

VOSS, Axel (EPP, DE)

Commission evaluation report on the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation two years after its application (15/03/2021): statements by Juan Fernando LÓPEZ AGUILAR (S&D, ES), Rapporteur and Axel VOSS (EPP, DE) at LIBE Committee

Title: Commission evaluation report on the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation two years after its application: - statements by Juan Fernando L&#211;PEZ AGUILAR (S&amp;D,ES), Rapporteur 

illustration shot with the rapporteur Lopez Aguilar, 1 shot

SOUNDBITE (English), Juan Fernando L&#211;PEZ AGUILAR (S&amp;D, ES), Rapporteur , There was alarm being raised by the giant Internet, by small and medium enterprises that they would be having so much trouble to get adapted to the new regulation. No such thing. It's been quite a success. So the first lesson learned is that there is no need to review the package, but the second lesson is that we got to keep high guard in order to make sure that all the Member states do actually implement their regulations. Only Slovenia has failed to do so until now.

SOUNDBITE (English), Juan Fernando L&#211;PEZ AGUILAR (S&amp;D, ES), Rapporteur , There has been a number of problems detected when it comes to data protection authorities, which are understaffed, poorly equipped, particularly in some cases in which some problems have arosed, notably so that is the case of Ireland for good reason. Could also be the case of some other member state, but notably Ireland, because some giants in the net for tax reasons have picked Ireland as their operation gound throughout Europe. And the European authorities are encountering a number of problems to make sure that the data protection regulation is properly implemented.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Juan Fernando L&#211;PEZ AGUILAR (S&amp;D, ES), Rapporteur , Yes, it is a huge challenge to make sure that the digital agenda is carried out while protecting the rights of the of the European citizens, including rights of privacy and confidentiality of data. When unfolding the strategies which are now underway, including data protection and health research, data protection, science and medical investigation, data protection, and the way we deal with the pharmaceutical industries and giants. And there is also data protection and vaccine passports, which is the so-called vaccine passport, which is something we are discussing thoroughly because we need to make sure that every step we make is made compatible with the fundamental rights of the citizen.

illustration shot with the shadow rapporteur Axel VOSS, (1 shot) 

SOUNDBITE (English), Axel VOSS (EPP, DE), shadow rapporteur, We should think about the fact that new technologies are not fitting the GDPR. So if you're thinking about block chain of artificial intelligence, we need a lot of data, but if we just think on the GDPR, then we don't have personal data in mind. On the other hand, we need also some clarifications. We have seen that the use of the GDPR is in a way unstable, not fully harmonised throughout the EU and also unstable between the interpretations in the EU. And secondly, the misuse of data protection should be hindered. So we have a lot of points where we can improve the situation, but we need a strong political will for this.

SOUNDBITE (German), Axel VOSS (EPP, DE), On the other hand, so many business models are actually so data-oriented that one has to pay more attention to the extent to which the General Data Protection Regulation is being complied with. So I think it is good to check whether the authorities are well equipped as well staffed There are opportunities for improvement, but I think they should also go hand in hand with the opportunity to work in a very service-oriented manner, because we not only always need something running against and detecting  but also mediating here the positions in order to be able to survive in the world wide competition.

SOUNDBITE (German), Axel VOSS (EPP, DE), shadow rapporteur , We have to encourage our small and medium-sized companies to think digitally, to go into production and to adapt themselves.We could call it the way of creating the whole right awareness. This is important because production is currently running here. But we also need also other possibilities, such coming up with tenders calls and support options in the area where we also need a great deal of changes to the laws so that we can allow bigger businesses afterwards. Digital means global and that is why we need the size and therefore also the support of small and medium-sized companies there.