Data protection compliance
Since the early 1970s, data protection law has evolved from being something rather “exotic” into a ubiquitous field of regulation. Digitisation and the steadily increasing importance of (personal) data as economic assets and production factors were key drivers behind the ongoing development of a strict regulatory framework.
The data protection team at CMS has been following these developments for more than two decades. Our approach combines strong legal specialisation with a cross-practice perspective and deep understanding of sector and application-specific requirements. It is pragmatic, risk aware and interdisciplinary.
| Our Services | |
|---|---|
| Strategy & concepts Sustainable risk management with regard to data protection goes beyond dealing with individual issues. We provide advice on all aspects of developing, implementing and updating strategies and plans, from introducing new business models to taking a comprehensive look at company-wide and group-wide approaches. | International Global data flows are an essential part of business operations for international companies. At the same time, regulation at international level is intensifying: there are few blank areas left on the global data protection map. We can assist with international data protection projects, working together with teams from within the CMS organisation and beyond. |
| Emergencies Data protection emergencies have long been part of our portfolio, alongside ongoing advice. Our services range from legal advice on security incidents/data breaches to support with internal investigations and similar compliance projects. In an emergency in particular, we see our role as complementing internal stakeholders. We are familiar with working in interdisciplinary teams under time and deadline pressure. | Enforcement, claims & litigation Data protection has long ceased to be a “toothless tiger”: breaches of the law can result in enforcement action by supervisory authorities (including fines), individueal claims by data subjects or other liability issues. We are familiar with the forensic view on data protection law and regularly represent clients before supervisory authorities and in courts, including in class-action lawsuits. |
| Housekeeping A relevant number of data protection requirements need detailed work, ranging from implementing documentation and information requirements (such as the register of processing activities, or privacy notices) to dealing with data subjects’ rights. We have been handling this kind of data protection housekeeping for many years and provide support around all these issues: pragmatic, risk aware and always very mindful of the risk to the company’s reputation. | Intersections Data protection law does not exist in a vacuum; it intersects with many other areas of law. In employee data protection, for example, employment law has a significant impact on how matters are assessed under data protection law; various sectors have intersections with sector-specific regulatory frameworks. These intersections have been a major part of our interdisciplinary approach to legal advice for many years. Given the increasingly widespread nature of “digital regulation”, this aspect is set to remain highly relevant. |
Resources & tools
The Data Law Navigator (EN) provides a quick overview of the legal framework for data protection and cyber security in selected countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.
To compile the GDPR Enforcement Tracker (EN), our team has been tracking data protection fines in the public domain in Europe since May 2018. Our database is continuously updated and includes filters (e.g. by country or main violation), search functionality and statistics.
The GDPR Enforcement Tracker Report (EN) is our annual deep dive on how data protection fines are being applied in practice across Europe. It includes an executive summary, facts and figures, as well as insights and background information broken down by sector and country.
We follow case law on GDPR damages in Germany and provide a continuously updated overview of judgments and developments (DE).
Legal experts for Data protection compliance
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