New European Regulation on Personal Data Protection

The regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 27^th, 2016, so called “General Data Protection Regulation”, was recently published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The regulation shall apply from May 25^th, 2018 and will replace the Directive 95/45/EC that was implemented in the Act No. 101/2000 Coll., on the Protection of Personal Data.

The Regulation strengthens the rights of natural persons, whose personal data are processed. It for example explicitly determines the right to rectification and the right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”).

The Regulation also sets out strict sanctions for the breach of the rules for the protection of personal data. Some infringements can be subject to administrative fines up to 20 000 000 EUR, or up to 4 % of the total worldwide annual turnover (whichever is higher).