SUBJECT: 01/2020 RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN DATA PROTECTION COMMITTEE

SUBJECT: 01/2020 Recommendations of the European Data Protection Board

DEAR MR. KARADZHOV,

Between November 11th and December 21st 2020, the European Data Protection Board held a public consultation on “Recommendations 01/2020 on the measures to complement transfer instruments to ensure compliance with the level of personal data protection in the EU. “

The Bulgarian Industrial Association - Union of Bulgarian Business, as part of the largest business organization in the EU - BusinessEurope, participates in the discussion and preparation of an opinion on the suggested recommendations. It is also coordinated with 17 industry associations at an European level.

For entrepreneurs, the protection of personal data is a matter of utmost importance. From this point of view, the proposed draft recommendations will complicate their work in relations with economic operators from other countries and will make their work within the global economy unreasonably impractical. The suggested recommendations:

• Are overly prescriptive and treat all flows of personal data, regardless of the context, as a matter of potential interest to the law enforcement;
• They set special technical requirements and prioritize their use over organizational or contractual measures, which deviate from the GDPR;
• They focus on near-end end-to-end encryption with forced retention of decryption keys in Europe;
• They create legal uncertainty as they do not create a balance between the free exchange of data and the protection of personal data currently promoted by the GDPR and do not comply with the standard contractual clauses proposed by the EC for the transfer of personal data to non-EU countries (a draft document);
• They impede the free flow of data, which has a negative impact on digital commerce.

This will not only harm the opportunities for European entrepreneurs to enter international markets, but also hinder investments in the European market.

In connection with all the above, we present in the annex the reached agreement with seventeen pan-European industry associations on "Recommendations 01/2020 on measures to complement transfer instruments to ensure compliance with the level of personal data protection in the EU" and call on them to take into account in the discussions in the plenary meetings of the European Data Protection Board.

ANNEX: "Data flow protection" - a joint statement by leading European associations on the recommendations for "additional measures" of the European Data Protection Board.

WITH RESPECT,

RADOSVET RADEV

Chairman of the Board of BIA