The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has recently addressed the issue of the possibility of retaining traffic and location data in two of its decisions. As many people know, personal data is highly protected and can only be retained in specific cases and in a specific way. The question is whether the protection of this data is also a priority in cases where it is needed for the prevention of crime. In this article, we will present the recent CJEU judgments dealing with the above issues, which are also relevant for the Hungarian legislation.
Following the ruling of Court of Justice of the European Union in 2020, invalidating the Privacy Shield, it has become significantly more difficult to comply with the GDPR for companies transferring personal data from the EU to the US. What changes will the new Transatlantic Privacy Shield Framework announced last month with a view to replace Privacy Shield bring for these EU companies? In this short article, we explain the principles of the new Framework and answer the above question.
During summer 2021, the European Commission published two new "standard contractual clauses" on data protection regulation, which can be applied on the one hand, to the legal relationship between data controllers and data processors covered by the GDPR , and to the transfers of personal data to third countries, on the other. In this article, we answer the questions: what these SCCs regulate, how do they differ from the previous SCCs and how can your company use the new SCCs?
In the recent weeks, a number of questions have been arisen whether the employer may know the data contained by the „immunity card”, which aim is to certify immunity to coronavirus. Is the employer entitled to request information from the employee regarding the immunity card or store the information concerning its employee? In this article we answer the above questions on the basis of the information („Information”) of Hungarian National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information.
Since in the middle of summer 2020, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) invalidated the Privacy Shield and put into question the applicability of the standard contractual clauses, we were wating for guidance from the European Data Protection Board (EDPR) how to transfer personal data to non-EEA countries in a GDPR-compliant way. Finally, the EDPB broke the silence and provided a 6-step guide which we summarize in this short article.
Although the UK has already left the EU 9 months ago, EU legislation is still applicable to the country during the transitional period until the end of the year, so in practice we have not yet faced the post-Brexit legal environment. Due to the protracted process, businesses in the EU may easily overlook the fact that, as of January 2021, they will no longer be able to transfer personal data to the UK as they used to. However, until the end of the year, there is still time to settle the legality of data transfer to UK, the possibilities of which are analysed in our short article.
The recent judgement of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) invalidating the EU-US Privacy Shield raised several questions concerning international personal data transfers. Companies who normally transfer personal data to the U.S. and use U.S.-based service providers are asking themselves: are we still allowed to do this? If not, what should we do now? In this short article we will explain the judgement of the CJEU and the current situation.
The Data Protection Authority imposed the highest fine ever in Hungary against Digi Távközlési és Szolgáltató Kft. because of the infringement of the GDPR. Let’s see what led to the record fine of HUF 100 Million.
The supervisory authorities in Europe controlling compliance with the GDPR have not sat on their hands in the last couple of months. In this short article we collected five interesting cases from the recent past. The wide discretionary powers of the data protection authority is well illustrated by the fact that sometimes the GDPR fine was only EUR 2000, but in another case a company has been fined for EUR 11,5 Million! Continue reading if you would like to avoid the same or similar expensive errors.
In its recently published decision, the Hungarian Data Protection Authority (NAIH) has dealt with the questions of the usage of the corporate email account for private purposes and the monitoring of the e-mail account. As the topic can affect every employer, who provides an e-mail account for its employees for working purposes, we summarize the most important conclusions of the decision in our short article.
Can you dismiss your employee, if caught on hidden camera while stealing cash? In its recent decision, the European Court of Human Rights answered this question in the affirmative, however it is doubtful, whether this ruling is compatible with strengthening data protection in the EU, particularly following the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union.
I suppose that you also frequently see that a pop-up window appears on the screen when you visit a webpage and informs you that the webpage uses cookies. After the entry into force of the GDPR the issue of the cookies became even more central. Recently the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has also paid special attention to the cookies. Read our short article if you are also using cookies on your webpage and would like to know how to do it right in the light of the new decision of the CJEU.
During this summer, the Hungarian Supreme Court (Curia) made a judgement in a case, where the central question was whether the monitoring of the employee’s own cell phone used for job-related purposes by the employer was lawful. Although the legal framework was slightly modified lately because of the entering into force of the GDPR, the case can offer important lessons. Read our short article if you would like to know whether you can monitor your employee’s cell phone which he uses for job related purposes.
Before the summer break the Court of Justice of the European Union made a decision in a data protection related matter which concerned Facebook as well. The decision may be interesting and useful for everybody who embeds of his website the Facebook “Like” button. In our short article we summarize the most important findings of the Court.
Operating video surveillance in a GDPR-compliant way can be a real challenge for data controllers in Hungary. A key aspect of the compliance with the GDPR is how the controller informs the data subjects (e.g. employees or customers) about the CCTV surveillance. Luckily, the European Data Protection Board which is the data protection authority of the EU has recently published a guideline on this issue. Read our short summary so that you know what to include in your camera privacy notice.
A few days prior to the first anniversary of the entry into force of the GDPR the Hungarian Data Protection Authority imposed the biggest data protection fine in Hungary so far. The target was the biggest Hungarian festival organizer company thanks to whom the public may enjoy the SZIGET, the VOLT or the Balaton Sound Festival. The Data Protection Authority reviewed the check-in system of the festival and the data processing in relation with the check-in. In our short article we summarize the mistakes the Authority identified.
This May we participated in the European Conference of International Law Firms in Milan, where our managing partner Richard Schmidt held a presentation to members of ILF on recent developments of European Data Protection Law. The presentation focused on the lessons learnt from the first GDPR fines imposed by the national data protection authorities of various European jurisdictions in the 1st year of GDPR.
The Hungarian Supreme Court has made a decision in an employment related legal dispute whether the employer can process the data of the employee’s private life, and if so, then what can be the basis and the extent, and how can such data be processed. If you hire employees, you cannot avoid to process their personal data every day. This judgement can be a guidance for you to know what can be the limits of data processing if they contain sensitive data.
It is not an April’s fool joke that almost one year after the GDPR entering into force, finally the Hungarian Parliament adopted the GDPR implementation act on 1st April. The act harmonizes various areas of the Hungarian legal system with the GDPR as it will amend more than 80 legal sources. In this short article we collected the 5 most important provisions of the implementation act.
The Hungarian data protection authority, the NAIH has imposed the first data protection fine in December 2018 which was based on the infringement of the GDPR. It appears that in relation with the „first cuckoo” the NAIH applied the so called „early bird” discount known as a marketing strategy. Indeed, the fine was not particularly high considering that it should be imposed because of the infringement of data subject rights. Well, let’s see the details of the case.
The ink on the French data protection authority’s decision in the Google-case is not even dry and the German antitrust authority has already imposed sanctions against the other ’giant’ Facebook because of its unlawful data processing activities. I suppose you wonder what is the connection between the data protection and the economic competition? Well, read our short article and you will know the answer.
Just a week before entering into force of the EU – Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, the European Commission decided that Japan shall be considered as a safe country under the GDPR. What does it mean to be safe? Why is it important? In our latest article you can read about the effects of this decision.
During the preparation of the GDPR, it was often pointed out in professional circles that Google and Facebook are the primary targets of the strictest data protection regime of the world. Well, a little more than half a year after the GDPR entered into force, the sword of the French data protection authority has hit Google. Let’s see why the authority awarded the tech-giant with a modest fine of 50 Million Euros?
Have you ever experienced that if you deal with a topic excessively you start to see it everywhere? For me, it was clearly the GDPR that filtered into my private life. This gave me the idea to collect the GDPR “fails” of the year that me or my colleagues experienced. Of course, “our GDPR infringers” have not played as big as Facebook and his “little” buddies, but maybe our stories will show you how easy it is to slip on a banana peel when it comes to GDPR compliance.
Do use GPS tracking in your company cars? Do control your employees in home-office by measuring keyboard or mouse activity? You should use these devices with care, because according to the latest guidance of the Hungarian National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (NAIH) you might need an impact assessment before setting up such system, to be compliant with GDPR.
Our managing partner Richard Schmidt made a joint presentation on the General Data Protection Regulation for French entrepreneurs and directors at the club DEFH, together with Mr.Julien Thomas, IT professional and founder of YourOSoft.
Do you operate video cameras for observing employees or customers? Do the cameras make recordings or is it only a live broadcasting? If you think that a warning sticker about CCTV operation solves all the problems related to GDPR, that’s a big mistake. In our newest article we explain one of the decisions of the Data Protection Authority in Hungary.
During our GDPR compliance projects I often hear from clients that they copy or scan the identity cards of their employees. It may not be my most thrilling article, but I find it important to clarify once and for all that is a bad practice as it is against the GDPR and the recommendations of the Hungarian Data Protection Authority. Below I shortly explain you why copying ID cards is problematic and what you should do instead.
It only spotted some weeks ago that the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued its first GDPR formal notice. The target was AggregateIQ Data Services, a Canadian company who allegedly processed UK citizens data for political advertising. Read our article to know the details of the case and to find our why I find it particularly interesting.
You may have heard that British Airways suffered a serious data breach some weeks ago. As they reported the data of 380.000 passengers have been compromised during a 16 days period. The case was widely reflected in media and some press-organs talked about the possibility of a record GDPR fine and class-action against BA. Given that the breach is still under investigation, I do not wish to speculate on the fines but rather summarize how I see British Airways (BA) handled the data breach and what you can learn from it.
I hope that the Hungarian Basketball Association is better at the game than at data protection. Indeed, based on the fresh decision of the Hungarian Data Protection Authority they have serious problems with the latter and their data protection faults have been “awarded” with a fine. Let’s see the mistakes of the Association your company should avoid.
Are you under the scope of GDPR if you collect personal data only in paper format? Are you data controller if it is not you who determine for your business partner what kind of personal data should be collected, and you do not even have access to data? You can get the answers from our article which summarizes the EU Court’s judgement in the case of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Community.
Besides having a website, vast majority of businesses have company pages on the social networks like Facebook, Linkedin, etc. Do you become a data controller, being primarily responsible for data processing, if you get “only” statistical information of your visitors? The Court of Justice of the European Union addressed this question in its recent ruling.
In the last months preceding the entering into force of GDPR, the market was inundated with various service providers promising data protection compliance: data protection experts, counsels, IT experts, etc. Besides these providers, lawyers and law firms, experienced in the field of data protection also provide GDPR compliance services. We summarize the reason why you should involve them in your GDPR compliance project.
In the recent past the Hungarian Data Protection Authority imposed a fine of 2 Million Hungarian Forints against Telekom, a major Hungarian telecommunication company, because of his unlawful direct marketing activity. Although the decision has been made before the entering into force of the GDPR, it is worth to examine the mistakes of Telekom. Indeed, the fine would have been much higher if it was imposed after the GDPR.
Some GDPR myths make you see a problem where you should not, or what is even worse, they prevent you from detecting a problem when you should. To have a successful GDPR compliance project, you should avoid both above faults. To help you, we debunk the 5 GDPR myths that we faced the most often during our compliance projects.
My Colleague Anita is dealing with data protection issues for a longer period of time and in December 2017 she has became a data protection officer. Now I am asking Anita about her experiences she has acquired during the course.
It is hard to find anyone not using cloud services these days, but you might not think about the issues arising due to the storage of data in the cloud. If you want to choose the proper cloud service provider and avoid the huge fines of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), read this article, in which we gathered the key legal considerations before jumping into a cloud contract.
The Hungarian Data Protection Authority just published his decision about the unlawful data processing activities of the Church of Scientology Hungary. The Authority imposed the maximum level fine of 20Million Forints against the Church, taking into account the huge number of the persons concerned and the gravity of the infringements. Luckily for the Church, the decision was not based on the GDPR, otherwise the fine would not be 20 Million Forints but 20 Million Euros. Nevertheless, the mistakes of the Church would also infringe the GDPR, thus it is worth to mention and learn from them.
As we mentioned in our earlier article the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will apply from May 2018 in the EU. That means that you have about 1 year to make your business compliant with the new rules. Otherwise your company faces fines up to 20 Million Euro, not to mention the reputational loss a data breach can cause. A compliance project is always difficult to start. Thus, we would like to make it easier for you by collecting the 5 most important topics that you need to understand and clarify at the beginning of your compliance project.
I can imagine that when you hear the words data protection, you may not really be excited. What is worse you may skip to read this article. You probably think that when running your business, you have much bigger problems than data protection compliance. Still, I encourage you to give it 5 minutes and read through this short summary about the 5 most important impacts of the Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on your business. The GDPR will only enter into force in May 2018 so this is the perfect time to familiarize yourself with the new rules.