It has been almost two years since the GDPR came into force and now the European Commission (“EC”) is set to undertake a review and eventually report on issues regarding the application of the GDPR. Specifically, the EC will report on the international transfer provisions and cooperation and consistency mechanisms between supervisory authorities.

The EC is currently in the “roadmap” phase of the process. A roadmap aims to inform citizens and stakeholders about the EC’s work. One element of the roadmap is to gather feedback from citizens and stakeholders, and the opportunity to provide such feedback opened on 2 April 2020. The closing date for feedback is 29 April 2020. There is a 4000 character limit on the feedback function, but word documents can be uploaded where they contain research or other findings that support the feedback being provided. This feedback will be used to further develop and finesse the review. There are specific rules for providing feedback, which are linked here.

Once the feedback period has closed, the EC will review and summarise the feedback to produce a summary report, setting out how the EC intends to proceed. If possible, the EC will provide reasons on why certain suggestions cannot be adopted. The EC intends to adopt the report in the second quarter of 2020.