The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has released its priorities for 2019/2020 in its two-year “Work Program.” The EDPB is charged with issuing guidelines and opinions about GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), advising the European Commission about privacy-related issues, to help with the “consistent application” of GDPR, and to promote cooperation among the EU Member States’ supervisory authorities. Among the activities it anticipates engaging in over the next two years are a variety of guidelines, including those relating to the targeting of social media users and guidelines on children’s information. It also expects to have a guideline on the territorial scope of GDPR (which it will finalize after public consultation), and a guideline on data subjects’ rights.

The EDPB also anticipates engaging in other activities in the next two years, including a follow-up on the EU-US Privacy Shield, the development of an EDPB Enforcement Strategy, and work on data breach notifications. The EDPB has also indicated that it will continue to engage in its regular and ongoing work, including ensuring the consistency of opinions and decisions amongst the various supervisory authorities. These might include codes of conduct, Binding Corporate Rules, and the like.

Putting it Into Practice: The EDPB Work Program gives a comprehensive overview of its planned activities. Other helpful resources from the EDPB can be found on its website: https://edpb.europa.eu/.