FEDMA develops a position on Legitimate Interest

FEDMA, the Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing, published an updated position paper on Legitimate Interest. Indeed, in the context of the upcoming Commission report on GDPR implementation, and as the European Data Protection Board’s work program intends to discuss LI, we thought it was important to convey the following messages:

• The definition of legitimate interest has not changed since the Directive.
• GDPR must respect Primary Law, including freedom to conduct a business.
• National GDPR interpretations must not obstruct the fundamental freedom of movement of goods and services
• FEDMA urges the relevant European and national authorities to ensure a harmonised and consistent interpretation of GDPR in accordance with the wording in the articles and recitals of GDPR as adopted by the EU institutions, notably for the six equal legal grounds for processing personal data.
• FEDMA is very concerned by the development which allows national interpretations of GDPR. FEDMA would like to point out that this tendency (a) constitutes a further obstacle to the fundamental rights of free movement of goods and services laid out in the Lisbon Treaty, (b) obstructs a common legal framework and harmonisation, which was the major purposes of GDPR adoption.

You can find FEDMA position paper here.