Noerr Digital Day – Europe's economy profits from harmonised digital law

Starting in May 2018, the EU General Data Protection Regulation will create a uniform data protection level throughout Europe. "This advantage mustn't be squandered by national overregulation" warns IT law expert Prof. Peter Bräutigam – not least in light of the new version of the German Federal Data Protection Act just passed by the Bundestag, the the national Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany. The partner in the law firm Noerr is moderating the Noerr Digital Day today, where more than 180 high-level legal professionals are discussing the legal challenges of business digitalisation. Bräutigam will also present the initial results of a Europe-wide survey jointly conducted by Noerr and BusinessEurope on this topic.

The General Data Protection Regulation will bring about a uniform level playing field not only for European companies. "U.S. corporations are also subject to the regulation if they intend to use customer data in Europe to generate business," Bräutigam states. Now when amending national data protection laws – but also when dealing with other legal topics that are important for business digitalisation – the EU member states should act cautiously and not lose sight of the goal of harmonising regulations throughout Europe. "Otherwise, we will be nipping new European business models in the bud," Bräutigam warns. Besides, more emphasis should be placed on  contractual freedom and flexible contractual regulations.

Voices in business agree: according to the initial results of a yet-to-be-published pan-European survey taken by Noerr and BusinessEurope – the European umbrella organization of national business and employers' federations – the companies interviewed tend most often to rely on contractual solutions when dealing with business digitalisation. They also prefer regulation at the EU level and not the national level. A similar picture emerged from the joint survey of the legal departments of German companies taken by Noerr and the Federation of German Industries (BDI) published at the end of 2015.

Bräutigam sees a need for further discussion regarding data ownership. He believes that there should not be a rush to regulate by law. "The use rights to data should first continue to be regulated by contract," says Bräutigam. "Solutions based on private law are flexible and make it easy to adopt innovative new approaches." He believes that tendencies toward monopolisation can also be counteracted by antitrust legislation.

Today's Noerr Digital Day agenda includes guest lecturers from businesses as well as best practice workshops on a variety of legal topics related to digitalisation including the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, blockchains, smart contracts, FinTech, antitrust law in the digital age and digitalisation in the insurance sector. Speakers include Dr Holger Eggs (SAP Exchange Media), Prof. Wolfgang König (House of Finance of the Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main), Bettina Sonnemann (Microsoft Deutschland) and Dr Kai Brandt (Audi).