National EU member state courts, as well as the European Court of Justice (ECJ), have struggled for several years to define the scope of application of EU data protection law in individual member states. In a decision that provides important guidelines on the competence of, and co-operation between, national data protection authorities (DPAs), the ECJ has clarified how data protection law applies in cross-border situations within the EU (Weltimmo sro v Nemzeti Adatvédelmi és …

One of the major purposes of the Regulation is to ensure a consistent application of data protection law throughout the EU, not only to provide a high level of data protection but also to guarantee legal certainty for businesses when handling personal data. This has presented legislators with one of their biggest challenges: how to maintain the existing network of independent national DPAs, whilst ensuring that they promote a consistent interpretation of the Regulation and…

Telematics-based pay-as-you-drive insurance is a new, innovative and not yet proven product from the insurance industry. This new product collects information about the driving behavior associated with the vehicle and therefore raises privacy issues for the drivers. The Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information for North Rhine-Westphalia (Landesbeauftragter für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit Nordrhein-Westfalen – “LDI NRW“) is the first German data protection authority to evaluate a pay-as-you-drive product and has recently published its…