Poles have a high awareness of the functioning of the Personal Data Protection Office

The European Commission has published a communication on the second report regarding the application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The document presents the results of the 2024 Eurobarometer survey, which examined individuals' awareness of the GDPR and data protection authorities.

As part of the 2024 Eurobarometer survey on justice, rights, and values, respondents were asked, among other things, about their awareness of the existence of national authorities responsible for personal data protection. In this regard, Poland ranked among the top EU countries, with as many as 75% of respondents declaring that they had heard of such an institution. Similarly high results were noted in the Czech Republic, Slovenia (75%), and Portugal (74%). The Netherlands topped the list with a score of 82%.

The communication presented by the European Commission summarises the key findings from the report on the application of the GDPR, which will be published in full at a later date. This is the second report by the Commission adopted in accordance with Article 97 of the GDPR (the first was adopted on June 24, 2020).

The report was developed based on numerous sources, including opinions and findings of the Council of the European Union, comments submitted through a public call for feedback, and information received from data protection authorities (contributions from the European Data Protection Board). The report covered the following topics:

• Enforcement of the GDPR and the functioning of the cooperation and consistency mechanism,
• Implementation of the GDPR by member states,
• Rights of data subjects,
• Opportunities and challenges for organisations, particularly SMEs,
• The GDPR as a pillar of the EU’s digital policy,
• International data transfers and global cooperation.

Among the main conclusions drawn from the report were the need of strengthening citizens' rights and the creation of operating conditions for companies aiming at driving digital transformation in the EU. However, the authors of the document pointed out that fully achieving the two goals of the GDPR – namely, strong protection for individuals while ensuring the free flow of personal data within the EU and secure data flows outside the EU still requires further efforts.

The content of the communication discussing the second report on the application of the General Data Protection Regulation can be found in Polish at the following link: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/PL/TXT/HTML/?uri=COM:2024:357