Short Reads - On 25 January 2017, the Belgian Act on the processing of passenger name records (“PNR Act”) was published in the Belgian Official Gazette. The PNR Act implements three EU directives in the Belgian legal order: Directive 2016/681 on the use of passenger name record (PNR) data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime, Directive 2010/65 on reporting formalities for ships arriving in and/or departing from ports of the Member States, and Directive 2004/82 on the obligation of carriers to communicate passenger data.

Articles - The GDPR is the single most important change in the data protection landscape since the 1995 Privacy Directive. It will have a profound impact on the way processing of personal data will be organized and how companies will prioritize the item of data processing on their corporate agenda. Companies involved in the processing of personal data having a connection with the EU will have no choice but to comply and respect the requirements.