Expert calls for compensation clarification in Data Protection Bill

A digital rights expert has warned that the State could face repercussions if the Data Protection Bill is not amended to explicitly provide for compensation in case of personal data abuse.

Professor Eoin O’Dell, an associate law professor at Trinity College Dublin, presented a paper at an Irish Centre for European Law data protection conference, The Irish Times reports.

According to Professor O’Dell, the Bill assumes that article 82 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation is horizontally directly effective.

In a blog, he said it is not immediately clear that this is the case, and pointed out that corresponding German legislation appears to incorporate this article into national legislation.

It would “be better to have this matter settled by legislation rather than leaving it to the vagaries of litigation to - and in - the CJEU”, he said.

“In the meantime, a failure to enact such legislation could leave the State open to a claim for damages from someone who suffered loss by reason of the State’s failure to give further effect to article 82(1).”