The economic costs of weakening privacy and data protection

In light of the European Commission’s proposed Digital Omnibus package, BEUC asked Assembly to conduct an economic analysis of the impact on European consumers and businesses of a failure to protect existing EU privacy and data protection regulation. The results from Assembly Research’ study highlight the often-overlooked economic benefits of privacy: strongly enforcing the GDPR and protecting consumers’ rights is an economic asset for companies, not a burden.

For a truly competitive European economy that properly leverages privacy and data protection as a competitive advantage, BEUC recommends the following: 

1.    Keep personal data processing based on users’ consent - not legitimate interest. 

2.    Strengthen consumers’ rights to access, correct, transfer, and erase their personal data.

3.    Improve enforcement of companies’ obligations to properly secure and monitor personal data. 

More info on the methodology in this annex.