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On October 30, 2019 the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit – Berlin DPA) issued a €14.5 million fine on a German real estate company, die Deutsche Wohnen SE (Deutsche Wohnen),  the highest German GDPR fine to date. The infraction related to the over retention of personal data. For the first time, the Berlin DPA applied the new calculation method for GDPR fines issued by the German Datenschutzkonferenz recently (see our recent post).

The German federal labor court held in a recent decision (Bundesarbeitsgericht, 27 July 2017 – case no. 2 AZR 681/16) that the use of evidence obtained through the use of key logger software is not permitted under current German privacy law, if there is no suspicion of a criminal offense. Such monitoring is only allowed when an employer has a concrete suspicion of a criminal offense by an employee or any other serious breach of duty in a specific case. This decision is understood as a general guidance where the highest labor court gave guidance on secret employee monitoring.

On April 27, 2017, the German Federal Parliament voted to approve the new proposed German Federal Data Protection Act (“new FDPA”). The law would adapt the current German data protection law to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The federal chamber of the states, the German Federal Council, is expected to approved the new FDPA in the next month, without major changes.  Once approved by the Federal Council, the new FDPA will become effective on May 25, 2018, the same date as the GDPR.

The new FDPA seeks to enhance privacy protections in areas where the GDPR allows EU Member States to deviate from the Regulation.

Ten German data protection authorities (DPAs), led by the Berlin DPA, announced today that they will send formal questionnaires to about 500 companies in Germany to assess the scope of the companies’ cross-border data transfers. In a press release, the DPAs pointed out that the export of personal data to non-EU countries has become a common practice for major international, as well as small and medium sized companies, without, as the authorities say, adequate attention being paid to the unique data privacy issues raised by cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS).

A new German law, which grants authority to the country’s consumer and business associations to enforce compliance with data protection laws, goes into force on February 24, 2016.  A representative of the German Ministry of Justice pointed out that the new enforcement powers are specifically aimed at foreign companies having their headquarters or operating from outside Germany, including the U.S.