Data protection today and tomorrow

Data protection today and tomorrowAt the SDV Swiss Dialog Marketing Association's specialist event, the association will highlight the situation and stumbling blocks in current data protection and in Swiss data protection law. The SDV explains the developments in EU legislation and takes a first look at a possible data protection future: if the planned provisions are strictly implemented, advertising clients and advertising service providers will have to rethink their marketing activities and, in the worst case, substitute advertising investments from direct marketing with other non-personalized channels. The advertising industry therefore has a massive economic interest in the design of data protection provisions, and how Swiss data protection law will be structured in the future depends in particular on the Council of Europe's data protection convention ETS 108 on the one hand and the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) on the other. The EU GDPR will come into force in spring 2018 and will also have a direct relevance and impact on the Swiss dialog marketing industry. The ongoing revision of Swiss data protection law must therefore be assessed against the background of the new European regulations, and the information event will take place on Thursday, September 29, 2016 from 1.30 - 5.00 pm at the Sihlpost Education Center, Sihlpostgasse 2, 8001 Zurich, Room 203/206. It is aimed at professionals from the dialog marketing industry. Tickets (free of charge for SDV and SAAM members) at https://en.xing-events.com/DLFMGHGThe SDV will provide information on expected developments in data protection. The tightening of the DPA will not only affect address service providers, but also all downstream advertising service providers. Even advertising clients will be confronted with a new starting position. The SDV expects that the date for the opening of the consultation process will be postponed by around 2 months. It is therefore high time to take a close look at the expected changes.What is going on at the federal government?In a press release dated August 31, 2016, the Federal Council announced that the new EU Directive on data protection in the area of criminal prosecution will be adopted by Switzerland. The new EU Directive of April 27, 2016 regulates data processing in the context of criminal prosecution and police and judicial cooperation and represents a further development of the Schengen acquis. It strengthens the protection of data subjects and extends the obligations of the bodies responsible for data processing. It also specifies the conditions that must be met for the transfer of personal data from a Schengen state to a third country. As an associated Schengen state, Switzerland was involved in the drafting of the new EU directive. In order to implement this directive, the Data Protection Act (DPA) and other laws must be amended. The Federal Council already decided on April 1, 2015 to take the EU's data protection reform into account in the ongoing revision of the DPA. It is expected to submit the bill for consultation in the fall.