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The Spr Regulation Of GDPR

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The new GDPR updates and adds to the existing legislation, including in relation to the right to be forgotten. To begin, where Google was limited to the narrow circumstances concerning search engine results, the right under the new legislation ‘will be of significantly wider application, and will apply to all data controllers’ (Jay & Henderson 2016: 7). Moreover, the right has been strengthened in other areas, such as being exercisable on the basis of the withdrawal of consent, unlawfulness of the data processing, or where data is not necessary for the purpose for which it is held; ‘in these circumstances, the [right to be forgotten] is far stronger under the new regime as there is no balancing minimum and the [right] is absolute’ (2016: …show more content…

Whereas some have hailed the new GDPR, Gömann (2017) suggests that the new Regulation is far from revolutionary, ‘as it was largely foreshadowed by the Court of Justice’s judgment in Google’ (2017: 567). Indeed, it was the CJEU in Google which first opened up the grounds for erasure beyond incompleteness and inaccuracy to potentially include those ‘Data Protection Principles’ commended by Gabel and Hickman (above). Considering the advances taken in the GDPR however, in particular the scope of the new law and grounds such as the withdrawing of consent, it is submitted that Gömann’s criticism can only be upheld if it is in turn read as praise for the Google decision. Whether credit is due to the CJEU or the EU legislators, the last two decades have witnessed the development of a significant right to be forgotten which individuals may rely on whether data protection provisions have been breached, or the data subject simply removes their consent. It is notable that the date for enforcement of the GDPR falls in the middle of Brexit negotiations; however, as a regulation, the GDPR will cease to have any automatic effect in the UK as of the date on which the country withdraws, save for any domestic legislation which keeps the regulation in effect for a transitional period.
In conclusion, this essay has discussed the development of the right to be forgotten, from its limited right to erasure as contained in the DPD to its current expanded form

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