IAPP-KnowledgeNet founded

from M. Schröder

With more than 40 participants, the first meeting of the newly founded IAPP KnowledgeNet Chapter "Rhine-Ruhr" was a complete success. The regular meetings are jointly organized by data protection professionals from the law firms Oppenhoff & Partner, Pauly & Partner, Bird&Bird and the data protection consultancy 2B Advice.

Jürgen Thomas, Chief Privacy Officer at Avaya, opened the event with a presentation on the Binding Corporate Rules. He also picked up on Avaya's motivation to use Binding Corporate Rules as a "Gold Standard" to quickly set a visible example of data protection in practice throughout the Group. According to Thomas, the time is now ripe to consider Binding Corporate Rules as an alternative to the standard contractual clauses, as there is now sufficient experience with the approval of Binding Corporate Rules not only with consulting firms, but also with the supervisory authorities.

Fabian Niemann from Bird&Bird once again outlined the connections between the ECJ's Schrems ruling, the current debate on the Privacy Shield and the discussion on the future of standard contractual clauses and binding corporate rules.

The subsequent debate on the challenges of international data transfers was enriched by Nils Schröder from the NRW supervisory authority, who provided information on the planned approach of the supervisory authorities and also acknowledged the difficulties of internationally active companies, but had to refer to the task of the supervisory authorities to enforce national and European law. The participants welcomed the fact that Mr. Schröder responded to specific questions and did not evade them in his answers.

The moderator of the evening, Marco Schröder from 2B Advice, was able to draw a positive conclusion at the end and state that privacy professionals currently have to solve exciting questions in exciting times. Over finger food and drinks, the insights gained from the presentations and discussions were then discussed in greater depth in a convivial atmosphere.

Based on the positive feedback, the meetings of the "Rhine-Ruhr" IAPP chapter will take place every three months in future at different venues. If you would like to be informed about the next dates, please let us know by sending us an e-mail with the subject "IAPP" to info@2b-advice.com.

Further information:

• iapp.org
• iapp.org/connect/chapters/