Data Protection 2026: From Annoying Legal Jungle to Location Advantage

Data protection on the internet is no longer a wallflower for people in Germany, but a fundamental need. 90 percent of Germans state that the protection of their fundamental rights – from freedom of expression to securing personal information – is important or even very important online. This vote is also reflected in the management levels of the economy. A current study commissioned by the Foundation for Data Protection shows that the topic has made the leap from the pure compliance corner to strategic planning. For many companies, a high level of data protection is therefore not a burden but a tangible competitive factor that builds trust and strengthens market positions.

The exploratory study, which is based on a survey by the market research company Civey, paints a differentiated picture of the situation. The experts examined two target groups: around 2500 private individuals and 500 decision-makers from the business world at the highest management level. According to the study design, the results are representative of the respective groups through quotas and weighting, with a statistical error between 2.5 and 9.3 percentage points.

Among the results, it stands out that almost half of the surveyed managers explicitly see the high European data protection standard as an important location factor for the EU. According to the study, those who rely on providers with server locations in Europe do so primarily to ensure their own independence from service providers in third countries such as the USA.

Knowledge gaps and unclear legal situation

Nevertheless, the path to implementing the EU requirements in practice is often still rocky. Almost every second respondent still sees a concrete need for action in their own company to efficiently fulfill the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The list of hurdles is led by a factor that has a lot to do with corporate culture: the lack of knowledge among employees. More than a quarter of companies identify knowledge gaps in the workforce as the greatest challenge.

In addition, there is a legal situation perceived as unclear and a lack of stringent internal concepts. Specialists directly involved in data protection assess the problems differently than colleagues from other departments, who are more likely to struggle with a lack of technical equipment.

The Foundation for Data Protection sees the results as a mandate for politics. In a white paper on “Wirtschaftsvorteil Datenschutz“ (“The Economic Advantage of Data Protection”), the organization emphasizes that effective protection goes beyond mere risk mitigation. It is a driver for improved data regulation and thus a basis for innovation. To reduce the burden on small and medium-sized enterprises, the foundation advocates for greater responsibility for software manufacturers. If data protection were already considered in the technology design from the outset, users could be relieved of a greater burden. A reform of the supervisory authorities would also be helpful to ensure more clarity through uniform guidelines.

(wpl)