Since May 2018, any business that operates within the European Union (EU) and handles customer data must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or face prosecution with financial penalties. Have to do.
However, the task of issuing these fines and policing businesses has often fallen to local governments, particularly those operating in Ireland such as Meta, which are under Irish jurisdiction. This results in the issuance of fines and penalties and delays in processing, leading to obstruction and failure to properly enforce the regulation.
This is about to change as the European Commission has now made it a requirement for regional governments to submit reports on how they are investigating GDPR breaches six times a year. The report will also review all large-scale, cross-border investigations, including timelines and procedural steps.
The biggest impact will be on the countries that have the most tech firms operating within their borders, namely Ireland, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Their governments must now account for how they are progressing in investigations of GDPR non-compliance.
However, the Irish government has argued that it is difficult to process all the complaints it receives, as the cases are often complex, and require thorough investigation. This is without regard to the number of cross-border complaints it receives on a regular basis.
Source: Bloomberg
