Recent assessments have highlighted shortcomings in the enforcement of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These include lengthy procedures, divergent practices, and functional flaws. In response, EU lawmakers negotiated additional procedural rules to ensure the swift and consistent resolution of cross-border cases and to harmonise parties' rights during the procedure. Parliament is set to vote on the provisional agreement reached with the Council on the proposed changes during the October II plenary session.
Background
Under the GDPR's decentralised enforcement system, Member States have established data protection authorities to monitor compliance. Each authority is competent for the territory in which it is located. In cross-border cases, supervisory authorities are required to cooperate under the 'one-stop-shop mechanism'. The lead supervisory authority coordinates these cases, while others involved may raise relevant and reasoned objections against a draft decision. Unresolved disputes are referred to the European Data Protection Board for resolution. The system is complex, cumbersome and vulnerable to intentional and unintentional supervisory authority obstruction, e.g. through late objections or slow cooperation.
European Commission proposal
In July 2023, the Commission tabled a proposal seeking to promote early consensus among supervisory authorities on cross-border cases through an early scoping exercise, while restricting the grounds for objecting against draft decisions at a later stage. It also proposed harmonising of parties' rights to be heard and to access administrative files, as well as streamlining the filing and initial handling of GDPR complaints.
Political agreement
Parliament's negotiators reached a provisional agreement with the Council on 16 June 2025. The colegislators preserved key elements of the proposal, such as the early scoping mechanism and rules on hearing parties to the procedure, while introducing some changes. They also compromised on new elements, including deadlines for draft decisions, the principle that complaints must end with a contestable decision, and an obligation on courts to consider procedural delays when deciding on the merits of legal action against supervisory authorities for failure to handle a complaint. In line with the Council approach, the co-legislators introduced an early resolution procedure and a simple cooperation procedure, aiming to efficiently settle issues without resorting to the full procedure. Based on Parliament's position, an electronic cooperation file for supervisory authorities would be introduced that would provide an additional source of information for objections to draft decisions.
Source: Think Tank - European Parliament / Briefing
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