The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is celebrating its sixth anniversary. After this time, many advantages, but also disadvantages, have become apparent. Will there be changes?
When visiting a website, you have probably noticed that you first have to accept cookies before you can view the content. The reason behind this is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For six years now, it has been ensuring that individuals’ personal data is better protected on the Internet in 27 EU countries. Since then, data may only be collected if you agree to it.
For companies, however, the GDPR has always been a nuisance due to its bureaucracy. Now that the regulation has been in use for over half a decade, experts in Vienna discussed the future of EU data protection law and took stock.
No major changes in sight
Among those involved was Martin Selmayr, who initiated and negotiated the regulation under Jean-Claude Juncker. The press Selmayr has noted a positive effect, even outside of Europe, as 46 Council of Europe states and 15 third countries, including Argentina, Japan and South Korea, have now committed to our data protection standards. In addition, 13 US states are also following them.
According to Selmayr, a complete renewal of the GDPR is not necessary due to this success. They only want to tackle some fine-tuning. However, Germany and France see things differently and already in October 2023 called for the regulation for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to be fundamentally changed.
Companies also take stock
There is a reason for this, as companies are still critical of GDPR even after six years. According to a representative Study by the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim It emerged that companies complained about excessive administrative burdens and the regulation’s thwarting of innovation.
ZEW Mannheim conducted a survey of 1,350 German companies in March 2024. For every second company, the negative aspects of the regulation outweigh possible positive points. It is therefore not surprising that only a few participants gave the GDPR a good rating.
According to the study, 60 percent of companies in the information economy also state that business processes have become more complicated. The General Data Protection Regulation also stands in the way of the use of artificial intelligence (AI), as 30 percent of large companies state. AI is dependent on the evaluation of large and high-quality data volumes and providing this is currently difficult.
But companies also see positive effects that the GDPR brings. Many companies have reviewed and optimized processes and standardized data processing procedures. In addition, an eight percent increase in customer trust has been observed.
It remains to be seen whether anything fundamental will change in the GDPR in the coming years. What is certain is that you will still have to accept cookies when you visit a website, even if it seems annoying.
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