Welcoming feedback on Guidance for DPAs on good practices to run hotlines for SMEs and the Handbook on European data protection law for SMEs

On 3 September 2020, the STAR II consortium in collaboration with the Brussels Privacy Hub will present the (draft) Guidance for DPAs on good practices to run hotlines for SMEs and the (draft) Handbook on European data protection law for SMEs.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was expected to boost the European (digital) economy by more uniformly regulating the free movement of personal data within the European Economic Area and by increasing consumer trust in (online) services. Yet, compliance with the Regulation is still problematic for most Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which represent the vast majority of all businesses in the EU. Albeit the European legislators acknowledged that SMEs deserve special attention and support from Data Protection Authorities (DPAs), small entrepreneurs still have to cope with several challenges, including misinformation about the GDPR requirements; scarcity of practical, easy to understand and targeted guidance about data protection law; uncertainty about the interpretation of certain provisions of the law; lack of internal data protection expertise and resources to invest thereto.

In this context, the STAR II consortium has undertaken research activities to examine, on the one hand, DPAs’ awareness-raising efforts concerning the GDPR compliance for SMEs; on the other hand, the SMEs’ experience with the GDPR.

Based on the outcomes of NAIH’s hotline for SMEs and interviews conducted with 18 DPAs, 22 SME association representatives, over 50 respondents to the online survey and 11 face to face interviews with SME representatives, the STAR II consortium prepared two documents to assist both DPAs and SMEs in their respective obligations:

• Guidance for DPAs on good practices to run hotlines for SMEs, containing recommendations to DPAs on how to set up and run a hotline.
• Handbook on European data protection law for SMEs, built upon the questions that SMEs most frequently asked via the hotline and the responses given therein.

The main purpose of this workshop is to receive feedback on the two documents. Our event will be highly interactive, and we will provide participants and speakers with the opportunity to exchange and to voice their thoughts on the Guidance and the Handbook. 

The feedback gathered will help the STAR II consortium to further advance an finalise the draft Guidance and Handbook.

The programme is available here.

Confirmed speakers

• Mr Hielke Hijmans, LSTS/VUB and APD-GBA (Belgian DPA)
• Ms Renáta Nagy, NAIH (Hungarian DPA)
• Ms Jelena Burnik, IP-RS (Slovenian DPA)
• Mr Basile Guley, CNIL (French DPA)
• Mr Luc Hendrickx, SMEUnited
• Ms Alessandra Calvi, LSTS/VUB
• Ms Annika Linck, European DIGITAL SME Alliance
• Ms Jasmina Trajkovski, TP Consulting
• Ms Pavlina Peneva, APD-GBA (Belgian DPA), BOOST project
• Mr Paul De Hert, LSTS/VUB

This online event is free to attend but registration is required.