Seven years have passed since, in 2018, the European Union Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) finally entered into force. The objective was to provide consumers with the necessary tools to defend against abuse and privacy violations by technological giants.
Track without consent, data exchange with unst declared third parties, data robberies or lack of personal information protection: The GDPR offers the possibility of going to the national data protection authorities, whose function is to assess whether there is an omission and impose corresponding finesthat in the most serious cases they can lead to 20 million euros or, if it is higher, to 4% of the global annual turnover of the demanded company.
Many complaints, few fines
According to Noyb, The non -profit organization of digital rights, More than 100,000 complaints are presented every year before the national authorities of the EU Member States. Between 2018 and 2023, there were an average of 28 thousand in Germany, 13 thousand in France and Spain, around 10,000 in Italy; and falling sharply into the smallest nations: in Cyprus, around 500 per year.
Being a lot of complaints, subject to the goal, Amazon, Apple and others Big Tech From Silicon Valley, one would expect an avalanche of money in the coffers of the states responsible for enforcing the RGPD. However, Noyb explains that the panorama is different: Only 1.3% of the cases presented to European guarantors end in fine; The remaining 98.7% lengthens for years and years, ending in a simple guilt agreement. However, there are great differences between nations: Slovakia has put fines in 6.8% of cases, followed by Bulgaria, with 4.2%. Ireland, Sweden, Finland and Poland are followed closely; all of them around 0.2%.
Contrary to what could be thought, these microscopic percentages are not related to an avalanche of unjustified complaints. As indicated by the Austrian organization report, among the complaints that do not give rise to fines are those related to “obvious infractions, such as access requests that remain unanswered or illegal banners.” Situations that could be solved quickly.
The interruption of CFPB activities will not only affect demands and execution measures. It will also paralyze the regulation governing giants such as Apple and Google.
Lack of political will
Max Schrems, founder of Noyb, explains that data protection authorities seem to be sufficiently motivated to enforce the law: “In all other habits, the infractions of the law regularly give rise to fines and sanctions. At the moment, The authorities seem to act in favor of companies that of consumers. “
On an Austrian website, a citizen presented his case: he had submitted 77 resources in less than two years and, when he filed a new complaint, the authorities told him that they no longer accepted more complaints about the “excessive nature” of the requests. The refusal was later rejected by the Court of Justice of the European Communities, which ruled that the number of complaints was not a valid reason to reject new ones.
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