European Union: Published FRA data collection for Art. 97 GDPR evaluation report

On 11 June 2024, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published a report summarising the results of the data collection for the Art. 97 GDPR evaluation report. Upon request by the European Commission, the FRA collected data between June 2022 and June 2023 concerning the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The FRA identified four major areas where the implementation of the GDPR faced the most challenges. These are the independence of data protection authorities (DPAs), the supervisory and advisory powers respectively of the DPAs, and the cooperation between DPAs at the national and supranational levels. The FRA issued several opinions in relation to concerns raised by the DPAs. These include the insufficient resources by DPAs, the need for additional tools in the supervision of GDPR compliance, the large and growing number of individual complaints being submitted, for which the DPAs do not have the resources to respond, and the lack of understanding of data protection laws by the public. Further, the FRA issued opinions connected to personal data handling for scientific researchers, the mistrust and misunderstanding of data protection authorities' competencies, the applicability of the GDPR to newer technologies and the increased cooperation between national DPAs and the role of the European Data Protection Board in this.