GDPR: Harmonization or Fragmentation? Applicable Law Problems in EU Data Protection Law

EU data privacy law is currently undergoing a regime change. The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the EU’s new data protection law, has been subject to a great degree of attention on both sides of the Atlantic. Much of this attention focuses on the GDPR’s expanded territorial reach, increased enforcement fines, and new rules in relation to consent. However, there has been surprisingly little attention paid to the interaction between the GDPR and the new laws of EU Member States being created in response to it. This blog seeks to address this issue, and highlight the absence of a choice of law mechanism within the GDPR to address these competing Member State national data protection laws.