Schrems: ‘Brussels is making GDPR procedures unworkable’

The European Union is working on legislation that will make GDPR procedures unworkable. Austrian privacy organization Noyb threatens to take legal action to get the regulation annulled.

One of the most significant promises of the upcoming new procedural regulation for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was to harmonize, simplify, and speed up the enforcement of the European privacy legislation. But according to Noyb, the new regulation is not only extremely complicated, but may also lead to longer procedures.

For example, the European Parliament asked for a processing time of no more than three months when Europeans file privacy complaints. However, the agreed deadlines are likely to amount to more than a year, making it easier for companies to defend their interests rather than for users to defend their right to data protection.

“This regulation adds tons of extra steps and extra paperwork to the existing procedures. Authorities and businesses will have more work with GDPR procedures, not less. This adds to compliance costs and overloaded authorities, with no benefits for users or companies. This is the exact opposite of what the EU simplification promises,” Max Schrems, Chairman of Noyb, says in a statement.

Noyb argues that the regulation will structurally discriminate against users. As an example, the privacy group mentions that companies can get all documents locally with their lead authority, users will have to get the documents delivered from abroad, without any realistic way to even find out that documents exist or take action if documents are not provided. In addition, companies have a ‘right to be heard’ while users only get an ‘opportunity to make their views known.’

“The entire regulation is tilted against users. In almost every article, companies are preferred, and users are discriminated against. There is absolutely no ‘equality of arms’ in this procedure. While EU law usually protects the weaker party, this regulation discriminates against the weaker party,” Schrems adds.

According to the Chairman, the regulation is structurally flawed, so much so that Noyb is considering having the European Court of Justice annul it. “The current draft likely violates the Charter in multiple ways on access to evidence, fairness, equality of arms, and a timely decision. In theory, the regulation could be annulled before it becomes applicable,” Schrems concludes.