By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
A LEADING MEP has called on EU Commissioner Michael McGrath to overhaul the GDPR regime to combat financial crime such as online scams more effectively.
Speaking in the European Parliament, the EPP’s Regina Doherty stated that while GDPR has protected citizens’ data, it has also hindered law enforcement.
“It’s blocked financial institutions from flagging red alerts to law enforcement and imposed huge compliance costs on SMEs,” she said.
She urged the Commission to update GDPR to continue protecting personal data while allowing faster responses to scams. “We need a smarter approach that protects privacy without paralyzing productivity,” she said. “That means giving regulators the tools to crack down on cybercriminals — not small businesses.”
Doherty said that excessive regulation harms Europe’s competitiveness. “The EU is smothered in bureaucracy. If we want to stay competitive and protect people online, we need to take the scissors to it and cut it out — fast,” she said. “This reform is a long-overdue first step.”
EU GDPR reform
The European Commission plans to propose a revision of the GDPR as part of a broader initiative to reduce regulatory burdens. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is leading the effort to simplify rules. Although specific changes have not been revealed, the goal is to reduce compliance costs without weakening data protection.
In March, the Commission made similar changes to environmental regulations, proposing to exempt 80% of companies from the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The upcoming GDPR revision is likely to follow that approach, aiming to balance protection with business efficiency.
The GDPR, in effect since 2018, has set strict standards for handling personal data. Critics say while it raises privacy standards, it also creates unnecessary red tape that slows innovation and hampers efforts to fight financial crime by making it harder for organizations to share data.
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