On May 4, 2016, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was presented to the public. The European Commission, Parliament and Council debated for more than four years until they finally agreed on a draft. The declared aim of GDPR: to harmonise the protection of personal data and improve it throughout the EU. GDPR will thus replace existing and mostly country-specific regulations. In about eight weeks, the two-year implementation phase will end, during which companies that operate in the European Union and work with personal data were able to familiarise themselves with the new rules.
Two years is a long time. And yet the GDPR presents many companies, whether small or large, with completely new challenges, with which many still have difficulties. On the one hand, small companies in particular lack resources, and on the other hand, the new set of rules does not appear to be particularly simple at first glance: For instance, the framework strengthens users’ rights and introduces procedural requirements for data-processing companies, as well as new legal principles that will also need to be tackled and implemented on a technical level – such as ‘data portability’.
Many companies as well as consumers still have a lot of questions – despite the fact that the GDPR will come into force in less than two months. To address these, Mozilla will be hosting a panel talk at its Berlin office at Schlesische Straße 27 on April 12, 2018. Anyone interested in GDPR, whether consumer, journalist or entrepreneur/start-up employee/IT expert or newbie, is cordially invited to join onsite (register here). Those who unfortunately cannot attend in person have the opportunity to follow the English-language panel and Q&A session via AirMozilla and YouTube. Your only disadvantage: we are not yet able to digitally transfer the delicious snacks at the event to you.