On July 5, 2024, the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) published the growth initiative in which it suggested, among other things, that the bureaucratic burden in the application of data protection requirements should be reduced and the application should be standardized at the European level.

According to the growth initiative, the Federal Government is aiming for the following measures with respect to data protection, in coordination with the states, including:

• single point of contact with special expertise for complex issues for supervisory authorities in certain instances;
• greater nationwide standardization of data protection through binding decisions of the German Data Protection Conference (DSK);
• raising the threshold for the appointment of a data protection officer (DPO) from 20 employees to 50 in an organization;
• clarification and specification in national law within the framework of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to increase legal certainty and facilitate application; and
• at the European level, the Federal Government will work to ensure that the application and enforcement of the GDPR are harmonized with the aim of simplification and cooperation between the supervisory authorities of the Member States.

Next steps

According to the growth initiative, the Federal Government will work to 'quickly implement' the measures contained in the growth initiative and if new laws or further legal adjustments are required, the corresponding regulatory proposals will be decided by the Cabinet together with the budget law or later in the second half of 2024.

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