The Court of Justice has decided that data protection authorities in the German Länder are not acting with "complete independence" as required by the Data Protection Directive. The court ruled on Tuesday that the authorities, which supervise the processing of personal data in the private sector, are not acting independently as they are part of the regional administration and therefore subject to state scrutiny. European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx lauded the court's decision, saying, "It strengthens and clarifies the position of data protection authorities as part of the fundamental right to data protection."
Full Story