Ten years have passed since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force, and the results are mixed. While data protection has become more firmly established in European companies — and beyond — than ever before, the business world remains critical of the regulation due to increasing bureaucracy, legal uncertainty, and competitive disadvantages.
From a data protection perspective, this is a success story. According to a 2018 Bitkom study, shortly before GDPR came into effect that year, only 7% of German companies had fully or largely implemented the requirements. Six years later, 71% of German companies said they had done so.
Furthermore, GDPR has significantly increased awa...