On July 4, 2025, a non-paper from the Danish government signaled an intention to propose a targeted revision of the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive to reduce the compliance burden on companies and ensure their competitiveness.  Denmark recently assumed the Presidency of the Council of the European Union and will be in a privileged position to shape EU policymaking for the next six months.  Amending the GDPR forms part of the Danish presidency program.  During this period, the European Commission is also expected to publish a fitness check on EU digital legislation, along with a digital omnibus package (see our previous blog here).

According to the Danish document, the proposed changes could benefit businesses while maintaining an adequate level of data protection.  The document includes proposals to:

• Exempt companies from obtaining data subject (“cookie”) consent where personal communications data is collected for “technical purposes and simple statistics” (Article 5(3) ePrivacy Directive);
• Define a minimum threshold for when data subject rights apply (Articles 12-20 GDPR);
• Remove the right to data portability (Article 20 GDPR);
• Reduce the number of companies required to keep records of processing activities (Article 30(5) GDPR);
• Lift (part of) the open-ended obligation for SMEs to have documentation in place to demonstrate GDPR compliance (Article 24(1) GDPR);
• Exempt data controllers from having to notify certain data breaches to the supervisory authority, such as “uncomplicated and clearly defined” breaches (Article 33 GDPR);
• Clarify when DPIAs are required and consider exemptions or simplifications for SMEs (Article 35 GDPR); and
• Make the data subject’s right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority conditional upon certain criteria (e.g., prior engagement with the data controller if an SME) (Article 77 GDPR).

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The Covington team will continue to monitor developments on these proposals, and we are happy to assist clients if they have any queries.

(This blog post was written with the contributions of Alberto Vogel).