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Further specifying procedural rules relating to the enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation

In “A New Push for European Democracy”

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In its work programme 2023, the European Commission announced that it would propose to harmonise some national procedural aspects to improve the cooperation between national data protection authorities in enforcing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

On 4 July 2023, the Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation on additional GDPR procedural rules. Commissioner Reynders indicated that the proposal aims to 'better protect Europeans' right to privacy, provide legal certainty to businesses, and streamline cooperation between data protection authorities'. Specifically, the Commission proposes

  • streamlining the filing and handling of complaints (chapter II)
  • introducing a scoping exercise at an early stage in the cooperation procedure (chapter III, section 1)
  • narrowly defining what qualifies as 'relevant and reasoned objections' and thereby limiting the range of disagreements warranting dispute resolutions, to exclude points raised in the early scoping exercise (chapter III, section 4)
  • explicitly affording parties the right to be heard before authorities take decisions that would directly or indirectly adversely affect them or otherwise concern them
  • explicitly granting the parties a right of access to documents and safeguarding confidentiality where appropriate (chapter IV);
  • (arguably) restricting the territorial and personal scope of urgent opinions and urgent binding decisions under Article 66(2) GDPR (chapter VI)

In the European Parliament (EP), the file was assigned to the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and MEP Sergey Lagodinsky (Germany, Greens/EFA) was appointed as rapporteur on 18 July 2023 for the 9th parliamentary term. On 16 November 2023, the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) published its opinion. Parliament adopted its position at first reading on 10 April 2024 and the matter was was referred back to LIBE for interinstitutional negotiations. On 30 September 2024, Markéta Gregorová (Czech Republic, Greens/EFA) was appointed as rapporteur. Trilogues are ongoing.

In its position Parliament insisted on strengthening the role of complainants, CSAs and the EDPB:

  • The changes proposed by the Parliament substantially modify the general part (Chapter 1). The scope of the regulation would be extended to cover administrative procedures involving SAs of more than one Member State. Several new provisions would be incorporated into the general part, on: a) the application of national procedural law; b) minimum procedural guarantees for parties; c) the procedure for determining which SAs qualify as supervisory authorities concerned (CSAs); d) language and translation requirements for information exchanged; and e) the initial handling and transmission of complaints. The provisions on the procedural minimum standards would guarantee parties to the proceedings a 'fair procedure' (including a right to equal treatment), the 'right to be heard', and 'procedural transparency'.
  • Chapter 2 on complaints and ex-officio procedures would set out (new) rules for: a) deciding the extent appropriate to investigate a case; b) settling complaints amicably; and c) requesting the LSA to carry out an ex-officio procedure (the request would be lodged by the CSA).
  • In Chapter 3 relating to certain cooperation activities, Parliament generally maintains but also modifies the rules on 'summary of key issues' and 'preliminary findings'. Where the LSA and CSAs do not agree on matters contained in the 'summary of key issues', they could request a 'procedural determination' from the EDPB. The LSA would have to update the summary continuously and the CSAs could submit their comments and thereby raise the potential for procedural determinations. Additionally, Parliament recommends retaining certain restrictions on the definition of 'relevant and reasoned objections', yet would give CSAs additional option to request 'procedural determinations' by the EDPB in earlier stages and the option of launching a formal request to initiate procedures (as mentioned above). 
  • Parliament proposed deleting Chapter 4 on access to the administrative file. Parties would have access to the joint case. In Chapter 5, as regards dispute resolutions, Parliament would delete the provision explicitly mandating that the EDPB must hear the parties prior to taking binding decisions under Article 65(1)(a)°GDPR. The general rules would ensure that parties are heard 'at appropriate stages of the procedure'. Parties would be able to seek judicial redress against a complaint-receiving SA that does not use its powers to ensure that another SA is applying the procedure; an LSA that does not comply with deadlines; or an SA that does not comply with a binding decision issued by the EDPB. As regards urgency procedures in Chapter 6, Parliament would extend the territorial and personal effect of urgent opinions and urgent binding decisions.

Parliament's negotiators reached a provisional agreement with the Council on 16 June 2025. The co-legislators preserved key elements of the proposal, such as the early scoping mechanism and rules on hearing parties to the procedure, while introducing some changes. They also compromised on new elements, including deadlines for draft decisions, the principle that complaints must end with a contestable decision, and an obligation on courts to consider procedural delays when deciding on the merits of legal action against supervisory authorities for failure to handle a complaint. In line with the Council approach, the co-legislators introduced an early resolution procedure and a simple cooperation procedure, aiming to efficiently settle issues without resorting to the full procedure. Based on Parliament's position, an electronic cooperation file for supervisory authorities would be introduced that would provide an additional source of information for objections to draft decisions.

The law was published in the Official Journal on 12 December 2025 as Regulation (EU) 2025/2518.

References: 

Further reading:

Author: Hendrik Mildebrath, Members' Research Service, legislative-train@europarl.europa.eu

As of 20/03/2026.