The EU GDPR as a clarion call for a new global digital gold standard

Abstract

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is going to raise the bar for data protection laws around the world. My EU institution (the Office of the European Data Protection Supervisor, or EDPS) was closely involved—as were other data protection authorities—in the policy discussions, though not in the negotiations. 1 Political agreement was reached in December 2015, and the text is expected to become law before the summer. 2 We believe that we have had some influence over the process, but we do not pretend that the final outcome is perfect, and in some ways it is quite far from the ideal. Nevertheless, we intend to be among the loudest champions of this reform, which is quite simply, and by a long way, the most ambitious endeavour so far to secure the rights of the individual in the digital realm for a generation. The GDPR contains considerable flexibility, and certainly more than it appears at first sight. It aims to entrench privacy on the ground and allows different sectors to contribute to new norms and best practices appropriate to specific circumstances. Its cornerstone is the notion of trust: trust in data controllers to treat personal information responsibly, and trust that the rules will be effectively enforced. It will be incumbent on Europe's independent data protection authorities, working through a reinforced cooperation facility called the European Data Protection Board, to foster that trust and accountability, by being transparent and accessible to stakeholders and efficient in providing relevant and timely guidance on compliance.

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