The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has recently issued the document named ”Overview on resources made available by Member States to the Data Protection Authorities and on enforcement actions by the Data Protection Authorities”.

This study was prepared at the request of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE Committee) of the European Parliament and comprises certain statistics regarding the financial and human resources made available by the EU Member States and from the European Economic Space (EEC) to the national supervisory authorities, as well as information regarding the corresponding supervisory and control activity.

Also, the document underlines the fact that the protection of personal data is a fundamental right in EU that requires a robust supervision that can only exist if the supervisory authorities are appropriately equipped with the corresponding staff and resources, in order to supervise the compliance with GDPR.

Moreover, the Board underlines that in order to keep up with the high pace of technological developments and digitalisation, the supervision should be performed in a sustained manner, reason for which the supervisory authorities shall have the necessary means and expertise to do so.

Also, the Board highlights that due to the cooperation and consistency mechanism laid down under the GDPR (one-stop-shop), the supervisory authorities have become independent, and the effective application of this mechanism requires, among others, for all the supervisory authorities, as well as the EDPB to be equipped appropriately, given that the lack of resources within a supervisory authority competent to handle cross-border cases can have consequences on the observance of the citizens rights across the EU.

At the same time, within the document it is noted that, in addition to the handling of complaints and the carrying out of investigations, the GDPR provides for the supervisory authorities a myriad of other tasks and instruments to promote and supervise the compliance, which contributes in equal share to the protection of the fundamental right to data protection in the EU. These include, amongst others, the data protection impact assessment, the assessment of codes of conduct, the issuing of certification and accreditation instruments, the assessment of BCRs and, of course, the contribution to the work of the EDPB to ensure the consistent application and interpretation of the GDPR across the EU. To this extent, the Board underlines that for all these tasks and instruments, the appropriate equipment of supervisory authorities has a significant importance.

The document of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), in English, can be consulted here.

Legal and Communication Department

A.N.S.P.D.C.P.