On November 18, 2024, the « Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et Libertés » (CNIL), the authority responsible for data protection, and the « Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des Fraudes » (DGCCRF), the authority responsible for consumer protection, signed a new cooperation protocol.
The purpose of this protocol is to ensure better consumer protection in the digital space, where consumer protection and data protection issues are linked.
This collaboration is not new. The two authorities had already signed an cooperation protocol in 2011 – revised in 2019 – which had led to dozens of reports of abusive commercial practices that did not comply with data protection standards.
With this new protocol, the CNIL and the DGCCRF intend to strengthen their collaboration, with the following objectives:
- strengthen the exchange of information on non-compliance with consumer law and personal data protection,
- share analyses of consumer and personal data protection legislation to ensure uniform interpretation and consistent application;
- pool expertise on investigation tools and techniques;
- implement joint economic analyses, in particular to study the impact of the data economy on personal protection, or to analyze the effects on consumers of certain mechanisms such as dark patterns on commercial sites;
- organize cross-training sessions to increase knowledge of the issues specific to each authority;
- plan joint public awareness campaigns.
This new protocol completes the cooperation agreement signed, in June 2024, by the CNIL, the DGCCRF and the Arcom (“Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique”) concerning their cooperation for the implementation of the European regulation on digital services (Digital Services Act).
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