Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG)

The Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) regulates the collection, processing, and use of personal data, including their transfer to third parties. The BDSG has a complementary regulatory area to the GDPR. Since the GDPR is an EU regulation, the GDPR enjoys precedence over the BDSG in the event of a conflict between the regulations. Where the GDPR requires national legislative concretizations, the BDSG applies. The new BDSG, which was passed in 2018, differs from the old BDSG of 2003 by being more closely aligned with the GDPR. It increases fines for data protection violations, clarifies outsourcing, expands data subject rights, requires directories of processing activities, introduces data protection impact assessments, and regulates employee data protection, video surveillance, and data protection authorities in more detail.