BvD awaiting Federal council approval of the Data Protection Amendment Act
The Association of Data Protection Officers of Germany (BvD) assumes that the Federal states will pass the Data Protection Amendment and Implementation Act EU (DSAnpUG EU) at their next Federal Council meeting. In the event of an adjournment, there may be a risk of the law not being finalised during the current legislative period, said BvD Chairman of the Board, Thomas Spaeing, on Thursday at the BvD-Verbandstag 2017 [Association Day 2017] in Berlin. The data protection officers in authorities and companies would thus have no legal basis and certainty required for preparation of the economy and administration for the day the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enters into force on 25 May, 2018.
The Federal Council will be voting on the DSAnpUG EU on12 May, to anchor the GDPR in German law. The Bundestag had already passed the law and had also considered Federal Council suggestions in the final version.
The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Andrea Voßhoff, described the 2-pillar model with data protection officers and supervisory authorities as an “excellent example” for implementation of the GDPR, for other countries also. Voßhoff stated on the occasion of the opening of the BvD Association Day that this structure was of vital importance to practical data protection in companies and authorities.
She furthermore appreciated the new Datenschutz Medienpreis DAME [Data Protection Media Award DAME] that the BvD introduced on the occasion. She called it a “noble objective” addressing one of the biggest challenges, that of the comprehensible presentation of data protection.
Film makers, youth groups, associations and initiatives have until 1 November, 2017, to apply with their feature films or documentaries, video clips or animations. A jury of data protection and media experts will evaluate the submissions by their technical presentation, comprehensibility, target group appeal and originality.
Those interested will find the conditions of participation and the application form on https://www.bvdnet.de/datenschutzmedienpreis/. The award of EUR 3 000 will be presented at a ceremony on Association Day 2018.
Voßhoff was highly appreciative about the BvD initiative “Data Protection at School”. She termed this a “fantastic and successful attempt” at using pedagogical materials to raise young people’s awareness of data protection in schools and in training.
The motto of the BvD Association Day 2017 was “Data protection in Europe – from theory to practice”. Over 200 data protection experts from politics, the economy and supervisory authorities deliberated, among other, on how companies and authorities should prepare for the day the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) would enter into effect on 25 May, 2018.
The guest speakers included Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Uwe Beckmeyer (SPD), State Secretary for Consumer Protection in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Gerd Billen, Group Data Protection Officer of Deutsche Telekom AG, Dr. Claus Ulmer and the Head of the Data Protection Department in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Jörg Eickelpasch.
Your BvD contact person:
Chairman of the Board Thomas Spaeing, Budapester Straße 31, 10787 Berlin
Tel: 030 . 26 36 77 60, E-Mail: bvd-gs@bvdnet.de, Internet: https://www.bvdnet.de