Data body aims for DSA-GDPR ‘consistency’
Europe’s data-protection watchdog has adopted its first guidelines on the interplay between EU data-privacy rules and an EU law that sets out obligations for big technology companies.
The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) said that its guidelines were aimed at contributing to the consistent application of the (DSA) and the GDPR.
It pointed out that several provisions included in the DSA entailed the processing of personal data by intermediary service providers and included references to GDPR concepts and definitions.
‘Safer’ online environment
The board said that the DSA’s main goal was to create a safer online environment in which the fundamental rights of all users – including the right to freedom of expression – were protected.
It listed several provisions of the DSA that related to the GDPR, such as:
- Notice-and-action systems that help individuals or entities report illegal content,
- Recommender systems used by online platforms to automatically present specific content to the users of the platform with a certain relative order or prominence,
- The provisions to ensure a high level of privacy, safety, and security of minors and prohibiting the use of profile-based advertising using their data,
- Transparency of advertising by online platforms, and
- Prohibition of profiling-based advertising using special categories of data.
The EDPB said that helped with understanding how the GDPR should be applied in the context of DSA obligations.
Co-operation
They also provide practical guidance on cross-regulatory co-operation between authorities to co-ordinate enforcement.
The board said that this would provide more legal certainty for intermediary service providers and, ultimately, protect the rights and freedoms of individuals.
The guidelines are subject to public consultation, with interested parties being given the chance to comment and provide feedback by 31 October.
The data watchdog added that “further work” was underway with other regulators to clarify the new cross-regulatory landscape and maintain “coherent and consistent” safeguards for the protection of personal data.
“In this regard, the EDPB is working on joint guidelines with the European Commission on the interplay between the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the GDPR, as well as on joint guidelines on the interplay between the AI Act and EU data protection laws,” it stated.