New technologies

On June 27, 2017, the European Commission imposed a €2.42 billion fine on Google for abusing its dominant position by favoring its own comparison shopping service over competing comparison shopping services.

Google and its parent company Alphabet appealed against this decision before the General Court of the European Union. The Court, in a recent ruling dated November 10, 2021, upheld the European Commission’s decision.

Ordinance No. 2021-1247 published on September 29, 2021 transposes into French consumer law European Directives (EU) 2019/770 and (EU) 2019/771 of May 20, 2019 and introduces a new legal guarantee of conformity specific to digital contents and services.

The new provisions will apply as from January 1, 2022.

In decision No. n°21-D-11 dated June 7, 2021, the Autorité de la concurrence (French Competition Authority) imposed a 220 million euros fine on Google.

The reason: Google had engaged into discriminatory practices aimed at favoring its own adverting technologies to the detriment of the other players of the sector.

The matter was brought before the French Competition Authority by several newspaper publishers (News Corp. Inc., the Figaro group and the Rossel La Voix group) adversely affected by the practices of the digital giant.

For several months now, ransomware cyberattacks have been on the rise. Recent attacks echoed by the media show that all types of organizations, whether private or public, can be affected, whatever their size.

In this context, this article offers a reminder of the best practices to implement in order to limit the risks and to know how to react effectively in case of an attack.

On March 17, 2021, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation to create a digital green certificate to facilitate free movement within the European Union in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This contemplated digital tool was discussed in a joint opinion from the European Data Protection Board and the European Data Protection Supervisor dated March 31, 2021, published on April 6, 2021.

In a deliberation No. 2021-006 issued on January 19, 2021, the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (French Data Protection Authority, hereinafter the “CNIL”) gave its opinion on a draft Decree aimed at strengthening the system for tracing the chains of COVID-19 transmission, known as the “Contact Covid” information system, as part of the French Government’s strategy to fight against the spread of the virus.

This article outlines the CNIL’s main observations and recommendations which aim at maintaining the protection of often sensitive personal data while the draft Decree foresees a considerable and substantial extension of the information collected.