Dutch Privacy regulator, the Dutch Data Protection Authority, has reported that almost 10,000 privacy-related complaints have been received since the introduction of the general data protection regulation.

The regulator reports that a total of 9,961 privacy-related complaints have been received since 25 May, the date of implementation of the general data protection regulation. 32 percent of these complaints are about the rights of those involved, followed by 15 percent of the complaints that concern the way of data processing. Furthermore, subjects such as the transmission of personal data to third parties and direct marketing are relatively often discussed.

A spokesman for the Dutch Data Protection Authority reports that the Privacy Complaints mainly concern the security of medical data, the right of access, the cookie wall and the sale of data to third parties. The regulator has started investigations into eleven organizations on the basis of about one hundred complaints. The spokesman did not want to say which organizations are involved and when the investigations have been completed, but at least it concerns companies and governments.

The vast majority of complaints concern organizations in the business services sector; 41 percent of the complaints concerned this sector, for example, media, lotteries, telecom companies, retail trade and utilities. In this sector, the complaints mainly concerned the rights of data subjects, direct marketing and the method of data processing. After the business services, the ICT sector follows, which is 12 percent of the total number of complaints.

The complaints are often about for the complainant unknown companies or intermediaries who call and ask for certain services to be purchased. These personal data were never then provided by the complainant to this party. For example, energy companies should not just approach someone with a marketing goal; Permission is usually required for this.

A total of 56 percent of the 9661 complaints have now been processed. The AP contacted the organization in 30 percent of the complaints, emphasizing the rules of the Privacy Act and urging the organization to comply with them. A third of the resolved complaints were dealt with by informing the complainant how he could best proceed to resolve the complaint himself. 44 percent of the 9961 privacy complaints have not yet been closed; these are still being processed. The AP first wants to investigate these complaints further to see how the organization wants to deal with them.