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EU funding supporting the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

EU Programmes financing projects on the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation

Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme(CERV)

Financed from the 2021-2022 CERV work programme (total around EUR 2.3 million):

  • Croatia and Italy: develop an open-source, freely accessible, interoperable and innovative digital tool tailor-made to specific needs of SMEs (see in English)
  • Latvia: raise awareness on personal data protection rules for SMEs and natural persons through digital learning (see in Latvian)
  • Finland: provide information on the processing of personal data to associations that organise leisure activities for children, as well as to the children and young people themselves and their parents (see in English)
  • Germany: adapt the topic of data protection to the reality of parents' lives
  • Greece: raise data protection and privacy awareness among the critical social group of children and to provide DPOs and privacy professionals with continuous support in their activities
  • Luxembourg: develop a toolkit to help assess and improve the data protection maturity of small and medium-sized organisations and reinforce the individuals’ fundamental rights in regards to their personal data processing.

Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (REC)

Under REC financial support was granted through four waves of grants, for a total of almost EUR 6.3 million by end 2020, with the three last ones specifically aimed at supporting national data protection authorities in their efforts to reach out to individuals and Small and Medium size Enterprises (SMEs).

Financed from the 2020 work programme (total around EUR 1.6 million):

  • Austria: raise awareness on the privacy for children (see in English)
  • Belgium: practical and straightforward support for SMEs and DPOs (see platform in Dutch, English, French, German, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish and Turkish)
  • Bulgaria: ensure the highest degree of privacy and personal data protection through Innovative tools for SMEs and Citizens (see in English)
  • Greece: awareness raising for Data Protection by Design , (see, in English)
  • Iceland: awareness-raising for Icelandic general public, SMEs and DPOs, (see in Icelandic
  • Lithuania: promote High Standards of Data Protection as a Fundamental Right at the Workplace, (see in Lithuanian and in English)
  • Lithuania: remove the tension between personal data protection and freedom of expression and information
  • Finland: awareness raising activities on GDPR opening doors to the digital single market(see in English)

Financed from the 2019 work programme (total around EUR 1 million):

  • Belgium: GDPR awareness campaign for SMEs in Belgium and EU (see in Dutch and French)
  • Croatia: awareness raising campaign for, SMEs see  in English and Croatian)
  • Malta: GDPR awareness raising campaign GDPR and support to business organisations, in particular SMEs (see in English)
  • Slovenia: awareness raising campaign on the Data Protection rights of individuals (see in Slovenian)

Financed from the 2017 work programme (total around EUR 2 million)

  • Belgium: privacy and GDPR awareness campaign for citizens in Belgium, (see in French and in Dutch)
  • Bulgaria:  innovative tools for SME and citizens (see in English, Bulgarian and Italian)
  • Denmark: raise awareness about data protection in Denmark, and more particularly raise Danish DPA profile among general public, and increase knowledge of data protection rules among SMEs (see in Danish)
  • Hungary: training material targeting SMEs, which may be customised and re-used (see in English)
  • Iceland: awareness-raising for Icelandic general public, SMEs and DPOs (see in Icelandic
  • Latvia: awareness-raising for Latvian SMEs and minors, through seminars(see (in Latvian
  • Lithuania: promote high standards of data protection towards SMEs and specific target audiences : media representatives, elderly people( see in Lithuanian
  • Netherlands: raising awareness about data protection in the Netherlands, and more particularly raising the profile of the Dutch DPA, (see in Dutch)
  • Slovenia: raise awareness on data protection and the GDPR in Slovenia's general public, and more specifically with SMEs (see in Slovenian

Financed from the 2016 work programme (total around EUR 1,7 million):

  • The Stichting European Lawyers Foundation organised training of lawyers on the EU data protection reform (see Training Material
  • The Vrije Universiteit of Brussel supported the Hungarian DPA in organising training activities on the data protection Reform, see Star Guidance Videos)
  • The Law and Internet Foundation trained local public authorities for the new data Protection Legislation in Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia, Romania and Slovakia, (seeTraining Material)
  • The Universita Degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa organised training activities in Spain, Italy and the UK, and deliverables are published under the European Journal of Privacy Law & Technologies (see Project Deliverables)
  • The Center for European Constitutional Law organised training on Legal professional and DPOs in Greece and Cyprus (see Problem based training on the data protection reform package in GR and CY)
  • The Fondazione Lelio e Basso-ISSOCO organised, with the Italian DPA, training of Polish, Spanish, Bulgarian and Hungarian DPAs and DPO trainings (see deliverables on the DPAs websites: Italy, Bulgaria , Croatia, Poland, Spain)