JJUA55132U European Data Protection Law

The technological developments make it possible to process data in ever increasing complex and efficient ways. Technological phenomena and services like the internet, social media, big data etc. mean that personal data is becoming a vauable asset (personal data has been categorized as the "oil of the 21st century"). The Snowden relevations demonstrated that intelligence services and other governmental authorities to a much larger extent than expected by the public proces personal data about the citizens. All this has caused an increased focus on legal protection of personal data, with the EU regulation on data protection as the preliminary culmination. Today a basic understanding of data protection law is a requirement for many lawyers. The course teaches the students of the basic concepts of data protection law and the main rules and principles of the current data protection directive and the forthcoming data protection regulation.

The course consists of four parts.

The first part of the course introduces the basic principles and instruments of data protection law both at a European and international level and includes the historical background and development of data protection law and privacy law.

The second part of the course deals with data protection as a human right with a focus on the historical roots of data protection, international human rights instruments, The EU Charter for Human Rights and case law illustrating the relationship between human rights and data protection regulation.

The third part of the course focuses on the EU directive and regulation on data protection and the main rules and mechanisms of these legal instruments, including the central terms, scope of regulation, applicable law, data protection principles, legal basis for processing, rights of the data subject, transfer to third countries, sanctions and control mechanisms.

The fourth part of the course presents two selected topics that the students will work with in more details based on current research articles.
The course has relations to the BA courses “Individets grundlæggende rettigheder”, “EU-ret”, “Ret, privatliv og teknologi” and some extent to the introduction to data protection law given to the students in "Forvaltningsret".

The course does not require that other MA courses are completed.