Kristof Van Quathem

Firm/Organization: Covington & Burling LLP

Blogs: Cov Financial Services, Covington Digital Health, Global Policy Watch, Inside EU Life Sciences, Inside Privacy

Latest Articles

French Supervisory Authority Publishes Guidance for Website and App Developers

By Anna Oberschelp de Meneses, Kristof Van Quathem & Nicholas Shepherd

February 17, 2020

On January 27, 2020, the French Supervisory Authority (“CNIL”) issued a guidance for developers of websites and applications which sets out the main principles of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), expounds on their application in the online environment, and gives practical tips to help developers respect users’ privacy when deploying websites and apps. The guidance consists of 17 recommendations, each covering a key principle supported by additional advice and examples. Below, we list all…

Inside Privacy

German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Launches Public Consultation on Anonymization

By Ulrike Elteste & Kristof Van Quathem

February 11, 2020

On February 10, 2020, Germany’s Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI) launched its first public consultation procedure. The consultation invites comments on a position paper of the BfDI which addresses the anonymization of personal data under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), with a particular focus on the telecommunications sector (for example, the anonymization of location data in mobile networks). The position paper points out that the processing of anonymized…

Covington Digital Health

Germany Publishes Draft Regulation on the Reimbursement of Digital Health Applications

By Ulrike Elteste, Kristof Van Quathem & Anna Oberschelp de Meneses

February 4, 2020

Germany recently enacted a law that enables state health insurance schemes to reimburse costs related to the use of digital health applications (“health apps”), but the law requires the Federal Ministry of Health to first develop the reimbursement process for such apps. Accordingly, on January 15, 2020, the German government published a draft regulation setting out the procedure for examining the eligibility of health apps to receive insurance reimbursements, as well as the requirements that…

Inside Privacy

Germany Publishes Draft Regulation on the Reimbursement of Digital Health Applications

By Ulrike Elteste, Kristof Van Quathem & Anna Oberschelp de Meneses

February 3, 2020

Inside Privacy

French Supervisory Authority Publishes Second Guidance on Cookies and Similar Technologies

By Kristof Van Quathem & Anna Oberschelp de Meneses

January 16, 2020

On January 14, 2020, the French Supervisory Authority (“CNIL”) published a new draft guidance on the use of cookies and similar technologies on websites and applications (see here, in French). The draft guidance is open for public consultation until February 25, 2020. In its nine articles, the guidance sets out how to properly inform users and collect their consent in this context. For each requirement, the guidance provides examples and best practices.…

Inside Privacy

Dutch Court Decides on Scope of GDPR Right of Access

By Kristof Van Quathem & Nicholas Shepherd

January 10, 2020

In late December 2019, the Court of The Hague (Netherlands) published a preliminary reference procedure (see here, in Dutch). The Court was asked to decide on the scope of the right of access under the GDPR. The defendant in this case was a bailiff involved in the bankruptcy procedure. The individual who was target of the bankruptcy procedure requested access to his/her data and a copy of several e-mails. In response, the bailiff only…

Inside Privacy

Belgian Supervisory Authority Imposes Cookie Fine

By Kristof Van Quathem

December 31, 2019

On December 17, 2019, the Belgian Supervisory Authority (“SA”) imposed a fine of € 15,000 on an SME operating a legal information website that welcomes approximately 35,000 unique visitors a month. Interestingly, in the apparent absence of any actual complaints submitted to the SA, it carried out this enforcement action on its own initiative. In a 43-page decision, the SA explained that the company in question was fined because: It provided insufficient information about…

Inside Privacy

AG Publishes Opinion on the Validity of the EU Standard Contractual Clauses

By Lisa Peets, Kristof Van Quathem, Bart Van Vooren, Sam Jungyun Choi & Gemma Nash

December 20, 2019

On December 19, 2019, Advocate General (“AG”) Henrik Saugmandsgaard Øe handed down his Opinion in Case C-311/18, Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland and Maximillian Schrems (“Schrems II”). The AG’s Opinion provides non-binding guidance to the Court of Justice of the EU (“CJEU”) on how to decide the case. In brief, the AG recommended that the CJEU find that Decision 2010/87 (setting out standard contractual clauses for controller to processor transfers) should not be…

Inside Privacy

EDPB Publishes Article 28 Standard Clauses Adopted by Danish Supervisory Authority

By Kristof Van Quathem & Nicholas Shepherd

December 13, 2019

On December 11, 2019, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) published the final text of the standard clauses adopted by the Danish Supervisory Authority (Datatilsynet, hereafter “Danish SA”) pursuant to Article 28(8) of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). The Danish clauses are now accessible on the EDPB’s register of decisions taken by Supervisory Authorities. The Danish clauses serve as a standard data processing agreement that controllers and processors may choose to adopt to fulfill…

Inside Privacy

German Supervisory Authorities Propose Changes to the GDPR

By Anna Oberschelp de Meneses, Ulrike Elteste & Kristof Van Quathem

December 11, 2019

On December 2, 2019, the German Supervisory Authorities issued a report evaluating the implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) in Germany. The report describes the Supervisory Authorities’ experience thus far in applying the GDPR and lists the provisions of the GDPR they see as problematic in practice. For each of these provisions, the report discusses the perceived problem and proposes a solution. The report begins by noting that the GDPR has significantly…

Kristof Van Quathem

French Supervisory Authority Publishes Guidance for Website and App Developers

German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Launches Public Consultation on Anonymization

Germany Publishes Draft Regulation on the Reimbursement of Digital Health Applications

Germany Publishes Draft Regulation on the Reimbursement of Digital Health Applications

French Supervisory Authority Publishes Second Guidance on Cookies and Similar Technologies

Dutch Court Decides on Scope of GDPR Right of Access

Belgian Supervisory Authority Imposes Cookie Fine

AG Publishes Opinion on the Validity of the EU Standard Contractual Clauses

EDPB Publishes Article 28 Standard Clauses Adopted by Danish Supervisory Authority

German Supervisory Authorities Propose Changes to the GDPR

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