DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION FRAMEWORK – WILL THE PANDEMIC BRING NEW CHANGES?

Abstract

The General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter – the Regulation), which entered into force on 25 May 2018 and introduced a new legal framework for the protection of personal data in the European Union, also included a number of new rights, more precise definitions and improvements in the field of personal data protection. The three‐year period has shown that the Regulation has successfully replaced Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement ofsuch data, but the Covid‐19 pandemic posed the question: does the Regulation sufficiently define and explain how controllers should deal with the processing of sensitive data, or in situations where employees of companies and institutions work remotely? Data protection is a complex concept that can be analyzed from both a legal and a social point of view. Traditionally, data protection has been referred to as the protection of personal privacy in the context of processes involving the use of personal data. Prior to the implementation of the Regulation, the existing rules on the protection of personal data in the European Union were not sufficiently uniform and were implemented differently in each Member State. It contributed to the development and implementation of the Regulation, in the hope that it would modernize and promote a common data protection regime, while maintaining all the basic principles of data protection that have been followed so far. Prior to the pandemic, the Regulation successfully achieved its original objectives, but hasthe pandemic necessitated a revision of the Regulation? This article will analyze the development of the legal framework for the protection of personal data and analyze the compliance of the Regulation with the requirements arising from the effects of the pandemic.