10 German Data Privacy Supervisory Authorities Investigating Potential Unlawful International Data Transfers

According to a press release of the Data Protection Supervisory Authority in the Land Mecklenburg Vorpommern of November 3, German supervisory authorities have randomly selected 500 companies in Germany and sent them requests for information on their international data transfers. The German supervisory authorities are undertaking this coordinated action in order to increase awareness among companies of the need to ensure data privacy compliance of international data transfers.

Content of Request

Companies coming under scrutiny will likely be asked if they send personal data to countries outside the EU, whether the destination country outside the EU is deemed to provide adequate data protection,–and whether they use EU Model Clauses or valid consent from the data subject or something else to justify the data transfers. The supervisory authorities noted that they would focus on several particular industries/services: remote services, help-desk services, other support