Job Wizards asked Wojciech Wiewiórowski, Assistant Supervisor at the EDPS, to give a short impression on how the GDPR has worked out so far. The EDPS – the European Data Protection Supervisor – is the European Union’s independent data protection authority.
Mr Wiewiórowski, did the results meet your expectations / the expectations of the EU?
Wojciech Wiewiórowski: Though it is hard to assess the total impact of the data protection reform just six months after the law became applicable, the overall result is positive. After the initial uncertainty – or panic – most controllers have found that they already have many of the tools in place to comply, since GDPR requirements do not differ too much from what they had to comply with before 25 May 2018. At the same time, the introduction of the GDPR was a signal to re-assess privacy settings, raise the awareness of clients and to check the cybersecurity readiness of the
organisation. Most controllers and processors dealing with our personal data appear to be ready to assure their customers that personal data is secure in their information systems.
From an institutional point of view, data protection authorities on national and European level have met with our expectations as well – the requirements set for them in the GDPR were also significant.