Data Breach Notification is not (always) Mandatory

Contrary to a broadly shared belief, under the GDPR not all Data Breaches are created equal. Section 33, first paragraph of the GDPR, indeed, clearly says that

In the case of a personal data breach, the controller shall … notify the personal data breach to the supervisory authority …, unless the personal data breach is unlikely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons. (emphasis added)

Of course only with a significant number of Court decisions it will be possible to create a taxonomy of what falls within the notion of “unlikely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons”. Nevertheless, is good to know that not any single data spill will turn into a self-incrimination.

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