tag: data protection

Legitimate interest remains one of the most frequently used legal bases under the GDPR; however, supervisory authorities are scrutinising its applicability with increasing rigor. Through the lessons learned from dozens of cross-border cases, the new OSS Case Digest published by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) demonstrates the criteria based on which European data protection authorities assess the existence of legitimate interest and the adequacy of the balancing test. In many respects, the decisions are consistent with the practice of the Hungarian National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (NAIH), and they also provide important guidance for Hungarian data controllers as to when reliance on legitimate interest as a legal basis for processing may be regarded as sufficiently substantiated. Our article presents the most important European trends and their practical implications for Hungarian businesses.

In early September, the French data protection authority issued a precedent-setting decision: it fined Shein’s Irish subsidiary for serious violations of cookie and user consent regulations. The ruling goes far beyond a single fine and sends a clear message: cookie-related data protection rules must be taken seriously.

This year, the most frequently mentioned buzzwords in the IT sector are "cybersecurity" and "compliance." This is due to the NIS2 directive, which is being uniformly introduced across the EU, and the tasks associated with it span the entire year. Moreover, in just a few days, Hungarian businesses must move past the second phase as well.

Under a law passed by Parliament yesterday, all companies with more than 50 employees will be obliged to have a whistleblowing system in place from December. Employers with 250 employees cannot wait any longer, as they will have 60 days to implement the system. The question is, of course, whether companies will see the regulation as another unnecessary administrative burden or whether it will trigger an avalanche of internal investigations.

With in-store shopping often relegated to a secondary role, online forms of trading have come to the fore of late. Nowadays, merchants that don’t adopt web commerce solutions alongside or instead of their physical stores can find themselves at a distinct disadvantage in the market. It’s worth bearing in mind, however, that besides implementing various IT developments and having to organise home deliveries, running a webshop requires some major preparatory work in the legal area as well.