Preservation of german privacy standards in the age of Europeanisation and globalisation

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jürgen Kühling
• Subject Area: Public Law
• Term: from 2013 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 229277558

When it comes to data privacy law, Germany has a comparably high standard. In fact, in arguably no other area of German law the lawmaker is faced with equally precise requirements in terms of form and content of legislative acts. These requirements were set by the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht). However, this status quo is influenced by other developments which may eventually lead to a modification and ultimately to a descent of the high German standard.Firstly, European data privacy law will be fully harmonised soon. In fact, this development is already well advanced today. But because there are partially fundamentally different values towards and perspectives on data privacy law within each individual member state, a harmonisation progress will necessarily lead to an assimilation of these different national standards. Rather then every member state adapting the high German standard, it is much more likely that there will be made a compromise and national data privacy standards will be brought down to a common denominator, which, from a German point of view, would be detrimental. Nevertheless, due to the different values in each member state, it will be a great challenge to establish a fully harmonised European data privacy standard.Secondly, problems arise also within the context of globalisation. With the use of hard-, software, and even services by companys from third countries, the factual data privacy standard is significantly shaped by the preconfiguration of these devices and services. As Europe, and particularly Germany, has a considerably higher data privacy standard then, for example, the USA, the question arises, whether the current national and European law is able to safeguard its citizens from factual invasion of their privacy by third country companies.This research project will assess the modifications and hazards the German data privacy law is facing due to these developments. In order to be as objective as possible, the foreign legal systems from which these develpments originate will be scrutinised in-depth to fully understand the different concepts of data privacy law. With the results, it should be possible to develop a solution that preserves national data privacy standards to some extend but also to balance the conflicting interests. For this, three cases will serve as reference points: The concept of consent, the visualisation of the public area, and the transition from web 2.0 to web 3.0.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants