The EU General Data Protection Regulation And Its Territorial Scope

Introduction

In recent years, data protection has become one of the core topics of policy for many jurisdictions. Being one of the forerunners of this trend, the European Commission of the European Union ("EU") put forward a proposal in 2012 for a comprehensive reform of data protection rules to increase users' control of their data and to cut costs for businesses; also known as the EU Data Protection Reform. By doing so, the European Commission aimed at facilitating the implementation of the Digital Single Market Strategy.

After four years of preparation and many discussions that followed, the EU Parliament finally approved the General Data Protection Regulation¹ ("GDPR") on April 14^th, 2016. Pursuant to Art. 99 of the GDPR, it shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the EU, however apply from May 25^th, 2018. Along with the GDPR, the EU has also approved the Directive (EU) 2016/680² on the