

They intend to simplify compliance, not axe the law. And this is needed if Europe wants to make itself independent of USA and China on the tech front.
You who are against this, have you ever had to deal with GDPR? It is a nightmare and I am certain American big tech is secretly celebrating it, because it kills any European startup alternatives, because they cannot afford to employ enough people to be compliant with the law and if they try to do it with existing personnel they don’t have enough time left over to actually run their business.
If you have ever complained that there aren’t enough European alternatives, GDPR and other legislation is the reason why. USA shoots itself in the foot with tariffs and we Europeans shoot ourselves in the foot with regulations. I am just really glad the EU commission has realized this and are fixing it.
It is not trivial, the existence of you job makes that self-evident. If it was trivial companies wouldn’t need a DPO, would they? I would love to see you walk up to your employer and tell them that your job is trivial and anyone can do it…
You might not see this yourself, but the fact that even a small company needs a DPO in order to interpret data protection regulation IS the problem! But I am sure you are not complaining… It needs to be simplified so a small company can be GDPR compliant without requiring a DPO.
This problem is recognized in the report from the EU commission linked in the article, which is why they are acting.
The fact that small startups cannot even take off because they cannot afford to hiring the bureaucrats required to interpret and be compliant with regulation is a massive problem and one of the reasons Europe’s economy is stagnating. It is not about exploiting personal data, it is about the cost of bureaucracy killing European startups in their infancy.