On March 26, 2024, the French data protection authority (the “CNIL”) published the 2024 edition of its Practice Guide for the Security of Personal Data (the “Guide”). The Guide is intended to support organizations in their efforts to implement adequate security measures in compliance with their obligations under Article 32 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation. In particular, the Guide targets DPOs, CISOs, computer scientists and privacy lawyers. The Guide is divided into the following five parts, each addressing key security themes: 1) users; 2) information technology and equipment; 3 ..read more

On March 7, 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) issued its judgment in the case of Endemol Shine (Case C‑604/22). In this case, the CJEU was called upon to assess whether oral disclosure of information could be considered as processing of personal data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and to clarify the relationship between personal data protection and public access to documents. Background The case arises from an oral request by Endemol Shine to a Finish District Court concerning information on criminal proceedings against an individual involved i ..read more

On March 13, 2024, the European Parliament adopted the AI Act by a majority of 523 votes in favor, 461 votes against, and 49 abstentions. The AI Act will introduce comprehensive rules to govern the use of AI in the EU, making it the first major economic bloc to regulate this technology. The European Council is now expected to formally endorse the final text of the AI Act in April 2024. Following this last formal step and the conclusion of linguistic work on the AI Act, the law will then be published in the Official Journal of the EU and enter into force 20 days after publication. Organizations ..read more

On March 7, 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) issued its judgment in the case of IAB Europe (Case C‑604/22). In this judgment, the CJEU assessed the role of the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe (“IAB Europe”) in the processing operations associated with its Transparency and Consent Framework (“TCF”) and further developed CJEU case law on the concept of personal data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). Background As described in our previous blog, the case arises from a 2022 fine imposed by the Belgian DPA against IAB Europe following an invest ..read more

On February 28, 2024, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) announced the launch of its latest Coordinated Enforcement Framework action on the right of access. Through the course of 2024, 31 data protection authorities across the European Economic Area, including seven German state-level authorities, will take part in this initiative on the implementation of the right of access. The EDPB selected the right access for its third coordinated enforcement action as it is “at the heart of data protection,” is a right that is very frequently exercised by individuals, and one that is often the b ..read more

On February 20, 2024, The Centre for Information Policy Leadership at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP  (“CIPL”) and Theodore Christakis, Professor of International, European and Digital Law at University Grenoble Alpes, released a comprehensive study titled The “Zero Risk” Fallacy: International Data Transfers, Foreign Governments’ Access to Data and the Need for a Risk-Based Approach. In the study, Prof. Christakis makes the case that the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and EU law, more generally, allow a more nuanced and r ..read more

On January 24, 2024, the European Commission announced that it had published the Commission Decision establishing the European AI Office (the “Decision”). The AI Office will be established within the Commission as part of the administrative structure of the Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology, and subject to its annual management plan. The AI Office is not intended to affect the powers and competences of national competent authorities, and bodies, offices and agencies of the EU in the supervision of AI systems, as provided for by the forthcoming AI Act. The D ..read more

On February 9, 2024, Hunton Andrews Kurth attorneys, David Dumont and Laura Léonard, and Centre for Information Policy Leadership Director of Privacy and Data Policy, Natascha Gerlach, published an op-ed discussing the implications of the European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation laying down additional procedural rules relating to the enforcement of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the “Draft GDPR Procedural Regulation”) and the draft report on the Draft GDPR Procedural Regulation by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (the “Draft LIBE Report”). The ..read more

On February 8, 2024, the French Data Protection Authority (the “CNIL”) announced the priority topics for its inspections in 2024.   In 2024, the CNIL will focus its investigations on the following priority topics: Data Collection for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. As millions of individuals are expected to travel to France for the Olympic and Paralympic Games this year, the CNIL will focus on verifying the measures that are deployed for security purposes (e.g., the use of QR codes for restricted areas, access authorizations, and the use of augmented cameras) and their impact on indivi ..read more

On January 22, 2024, a draft of the final text of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (“AI Act”) was leaked to the public. The leaked text substantially diverges from the original proposal by the European Commission, which dates back to 2021. The AI Act includes elements from both the European Parliament’s and the Council’s proposals. Key Definitions “AI system” is defined as “a machine-based system designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to gene ..read more