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Leeway for Member States to regulate under the General Data Protection Regulation - The GDPR and national law
The General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) will have a profound impact on the landscape of data protection law. It is not so much the substantive legal innovations themselves that are the focus of attention. In particular, the marketplace principle and the changes to the structure of European data protection supervision ensure a data protection regime with far-reaching effects beyond the borders of the Union. Furthermore, the transition to a regulation is accompanied by a discernible harmonisation in comparison to the preceding directive regime. In substance, however, the EU GDPR is, in part, more akin to a directive in the guise of a regulation, with approximately four dozen opening clauses that allow for significant scope for national normative nuances, particularly within the public sector. The project undertook a comprehensive examination of the ways in which the EU GDPR has transformed German data protection law and the extent to which the national scope of interpretation has been applied. The analysis focused on the data protection requirements set forth by the EU-GDPR for the fulfilment of public administration tasks.
Evaluation of the Hamburg Transparency Act (HmbTG)
The Hamburg Transparency Act (Hamburgische Transparenzgesetz - HmbTG) came into force on 6 October 2012, replacing the previous Hamburg Freedom of Information Act (Hamburgische Informationsfreiheitsgesetz - HmbIFG) and further developing it in certain areas. The Hamburg Transparency Act (HmbTG) established the first comprehensive information act in Germany. It requires public bodies to proactively make certain information available to the public, not just on request, and to do so in a transparency portal as an information register. Personal data is protected throughout. Sec. 18(2), sentence 3 of the Hamburg Transparency Act (HmbTG) requires the Senate to review the application and effects of the Act no later than four years after its entry into force and to report on the results to the general public.
Dr Jonas Botta (NIPAG) heard as expert witness by the German Bundestag's Internal Affairs Committee
The Committee on Internal Affairs and the Interior of the German Bundestag invited Dr Jonas Botta (NIPAG Research Associate) as an expert. Dr Botta made his expertise in the fields of general administrative law, e-government law and constitutional law available to the Committee. The occasion was the Federal Government's proposed amendments to the Online Access Act (Onlinezugangsgesetz - OZG), the key law for the digital transformation of public administration in Germany. In his statement, Dr Botta advocated – in addition to the amendments already proposed – binding follow-up deadlines for the implementation of the OZG, a legal right to digital administration, independent monitoring, an optimised data protection cockpit and more digital participation.
Development of guidance for the implementation of ex-post evaluations of legislation, with particular attention to the impact on data protection.
In recent years, the quality of legislation has come under increasing criticism. In the context of the better regulation agenda, measures have been introduced to improve the overall quality of legislation. Impact assessment has been identified as a key tool for optimising legislation and is repeatedly mentioned as a core element of such an approach. In addition, questions about the impact of legislation on data protection, especially in the security sector, have recently emerged as a prominent topic in public and political discourse. Against this background, the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI) commissioned the National Institute for Public Administration Germany to develop guidance for the implementation of ex-post evaluations of legislation, with a particular focus on data protection impact assessments.
Data protection in times of Covid-19
From a comparative perspective the Covid-19 pandemic provides a unique grand-scale life experience: nearly all countries have been confronted with a similar issue, that of quickly fighting the pandemic, balancing individual health with the sustainability of the national health system, and juggling economic imperatives with the duty to care for the most vulnerable individuals in society.
Digitalisation of health data and their interoperability in the European Union
Health data are sensitive data and must therefore be protected from unauthorised access. However, exchanging individual patient information is crucial for coordinating treatment between different medical professions and for the statutory health insurance schemes. Digitalisation of health data will facilitate all these processes.
Evaluation of the Schleswig-Holstein Open Data Act (ODaG) for public administrative bodies
The Schleswig-Holstein Open Data Act (Offene-Daten-Gesetz - ODaG) for public administrative bodies came into force on 15 April 2022. The aim of the Act is to 'strengthen the free and unrestricted access of the public to all non-protected digital data'. The Act regulates the conditions for the provision of open data and defines the responsibilities of the lead agency. Section 7 of the ODaG stipulates an obligation to review the effects of the Act with scientific support four years after it comes into force and every four years thereafter. In this context, the National Institute for public Administration Germany was commissioned to prepare parts of the report on the first review of the Act after its entry into force on the basis of scientific standards.
Jonas Lange | Research Associate
I am a research associate at National Institute for Public Administration Germany (NIPAG). My research focuses on data protection, administrative law and constitutional law. Please feel free to contact me via email for any further information.