Directive on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services & the EU data protection legal framework: are worlds colliding?

Abstract

This Paper will address the interplay between the Directive on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services and the current EU data protection framework, namely the General Data Protection Regulation. Albeit the Directive has the aim of protecting consumers, has it gone too far and made a crack in the data protection EU legal framework? Can personal data be treated as a commodity or is its scope as a counter-performance subject to a particular interpretation? I shall analyze these questions in light of the European Data Protection Supervisor’s Opinion 4/2017 and the European Data Protection Board’s Guidelines 2/2019.