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Berlin: Berlin Commissioner publishes 2021 annual report

The Berlin data protection authority ('the Berlin Commissioner') announced, on 24 May 2022, that it had published its annual report for 2021. In particular, the Berlin Commissioner stated that 2021 saw a significant increase in complaints/requests for advice (an all-time high of 5,671 complaints/requests), as well as an increase in reported data breaches compared to the previous year, which the Berlin Commissioner attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, the Berlin Commissioner specified that, in connection with the pandemic, it had received complaints about, among other things, Berlin's management of vaccinations and complaints against COVID-19 test centres. Moreover, the Berlin Commissioner highlighted that the digitisation of schools in line with data protection remains a challenge for 2022, after a push for more data-compliant teaching in 2021, and that the creation of a Berlin transparency law, which was the subject of a draft bill in 2021, remains a critical task for the authority in the area of freedom of information. 

You can read the press release here and the report here, both only available in German.