A Balanced Data Protection in the EU
| Published date | 01 June 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X1602300301 |
| Date | 01 June 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Guest Editors' Introduction |
23 MJ 3 (2016) 391
GUEST EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION
A BALANCED DATA PROTECTION IN THE EU
Con icts and Possible Solutions
M E*, F G**
M S***
§1. IN TRODUCT ION
is special issue presents articles that have originated from a workshop held at the
Maastricht University Campus Brussels on 19October 2015. On that occasion, legal
scholars and practitioners from a diversity of backgrounds re ected upon whether and
how data protection is and should be balanced with potentially con icting rights and
interests protected by EU law. Data protection and its challenges have already been
extensively researched and debated,1 but the ndings presented in this specia l issue are
distinctive as t hey attempt to adopt a cross-sectional approach to data protection matter s.
e articles examine ‘traditional’ con icts, such as with the freedom of expression, as
well as those in less known policy elds where data protection concerns are essentia lly
still largely neg lected, such as competition law and tax law.
e focus of this issue re ec ts th e ris ing i mpor tan ce of data prote cti on in the E U lega l
order. In recent years data protection has o en made headlines.2 It also came to the top
* Associate Profes sor in European Administ rative Law, Maast richt University, Maastricht, the
Netherlands.
** Assistant Pr ofessor in European Law, Depa rtment of Internationa l and European Law, Facu lty of Law,
Maastricht Unive rsity, Maastricht, th e Netherlands.
*** Assistant Profe ssor, Maastricht Cent re for Taxation and the Inst itute for Transnational and E uregional
cross border cooper ation and Mobility, Maast richt University, Maastric ht, the Netherlands.
1 See for instance O. Lynskey, e Foundations of EU Data Protection Law (OUP, 2015); S. Gutwirth et
al., Reforming European Data Protection law (Springer, 2015); G. González Fuster, e emergence of
personal data protection as a fundamental right of the EU (Springer, 2014); S. Gutwirth et al.(eds.),
Reloading Data P rotection. Multidi sciplinary Insigh ts and Contemporary Ch allenges (Spr inger, 2 014); F.
Boehm, Information shar ing and data protection in the a rea of Freedom Security a nd Justice (Spri nger,
2012); S. Gutwirth et al. (eds.), Reinventing Data Protection? (Springer, 2009); E. De Busser, Data
protection in EU and US c riminal cooperation (M aklu, 2009).
2 See for instance the so-called ‘Snowden revelations’: in the summer of 2013 whistleblower Edward
Snowden’s revelations con rmed that US legi slation allowed the NSA to monitor – wit h or without a
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