The European Commission has referred Greece and Spain to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to transpose the Data Protection Law Enforcement Directive, Directive (EU) 2016/680into their national law, which should have occurred by 6 May 2018.  The purpose of the Directive is to ensure a high level of data protection and facilitate the exchanges of personal data between national law enforcement authorities. 

The aim of the Directive is ensure a high level of protection of personal data while facilitating exchanges of personal data between national law enforcement authorities. Failing to do so, the Commission argues, creates a different level of protection for individuals and “hampers data exchanges between Greece and Spain on one side and other Member States who transposed the Directive on the other side.”