On February 11, 2014, Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection Heiko Maas announced at the "Safer Internet Day 2014" conference that consumer protection associations should be empowered to issue warnings to companies for data protection violations.
Currently, it is legally disputed whether data protection regulations serve consumer protection and thus whether data protection violations can be subject to warnings in conjunction with competition law. Until now, it has only been recognized that so-called 'cold calls' – unsolicited calls to consumers by companies – and unsolicited sending of emails (spamming) are prohibited with exceptions, and that a corresponding right to sue exists for violations.
The Federal Government now evidently intends to generally introduce this right to sue for all data protection violations.
As consumer lawsuits against data protection non-compliance have been rare to date, the Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection aims to promote a corresponding right to sue for consumers and a systematic sanctioning of data protection violations in the handling of customer data.
The Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection has announced a corresponding draft law for April 2014.
Data protection and data protection law are increasingly becoming a relevant legal area for businesses. Therefore, you should structure and organize your company now to ensure that no violations of data protection regulations occur within your organization. Otherwise, significant fines are already a risk.
It is also to be expected that the Federal Government will introduce a right to sue for consumer protection associations. Therefore, in the future, data protection violations will not only entail substantial fines but also competition law warnings, preliminary injunctions, and litigation.
If your company has not yet thoroughly addressed the requirements of data protection, you should implement them now. Otherwise, significant fines, claims for damages, and reputational harm are already a risk. Especially in cases of severe violations, imprisonment and/or monetary penalties are also possible under the current legal framework.
To avoid these undesirable legal consequences, we already advise numerous companies, including acting as external data protection officers.
We are also pleased to offer our consulting services to your company.
Goldberg Attorneys at Law 2014
Attorney Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
Specialist Lawyer for Information Technology Law (IT Law)
Email: info@goldberg.de
