Die Europäisierung des Datenschutzrechts

Some fear a „departure from our fundamental rights“, caused by the proposed General Data Protection Regulation. The author checks the validity of this apprehension by laying out the current status of Europeanisation and pointing out and explaining the effect the General Data Protection Regulation will have. Subsequently, any threats this scenario might bear for the German standard of data protection will be discussed. For this purpose, the scope of protection through fundamental rights, as awarded by the ECJ-case law, is contrasted with the protection granted by the German Federal Constitutional Court. As a result, the author identifies mainly procedural risks, rather than issues with the substantive law. Consequently, it is his view that the Europeanisation should not be a cause for concern – quite the contrary: It might even result in an improvement of the standard of protection trough fundamental rights.