Data protection violations may result in German authorities imposing significantly increased fines.

The Conference of the German Data Protection Authorities (DSK) ? the joint body of the German data protection authorities ? has agreed on a radical new model for calculating EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) fines. If adopted, the new fine model will likely lead to fines that frequently approach the maximum limits under Article 83 of the GDPR. Some German authorities have already started applying this new model in practice. For example, the Berlin data protection commissioner recently announced her intention to impose multimillion-Euro GDPR fines. Latham & Watkins’ German data protection team has handled some of the first cases defending clients against fines calculated under this new model. This Client Alert describes the fine calculation model and summarizes Latham’s initial experience with it.