The data protection officer is a very German concept – a company internal function of advice and control for privacy related questions. This concept has now been introduced into the GDPR, and companies are required to appoint a “DPO” if they process particularly sensitive data or use intrusive forms of data processing. Global companies currently struggle with finding appropriate personnel for the job and a clever way to fit that function into their compliance organization. They often benefit from experience of German companies, says Dr Vera Jungkind of Hengeler Mueller law firm in Germany.

The data protection officer is a very German concept – a company internal function of advice and control for privacy related questions. This concept has now been introduced into the GDPR, and companies are required to appoint a “DPO” if they process particularly sensitive data or use intrusive forms of data processing. Global companies currently struggle with finding appropriate personnel for the job and a clever way to fit that function into their compliance organization. They often benefit from experience of German companies, says Dr Vera Jungkind of Hengeler Mueller law firm in Germany.

Dr. Vera Jungkind is a partner at Hengeler Mueller, a leading law firm in Germany. Vera advises German and international companies on all aspects of Public and Regulatory Law, especially in Data Protection, Foreign Trade/Trade Sanctions, Social Security, Gambling, Construction and Environmental Law, Public Duties and Levies, Administrative Procedural Law and Litigation, as well as Compliance and Internal Investigations. In her data protection practice, Vera has considerable experience in advising international clients on international data transfers, data protection in M&A transactions and in internal investigations, data processing agreements, cloud computing, data breaches and authority proceedings.

Vera received her law degree after studying at the Universities of Saarbrücken and Cologne, Germany, and Paris Descartes University, France. In 2006, she was admitted to the German Bar. She joined the Düsseldorf office of Hengeler Mueller in 2006 and was elected partner as of 2015. From 2010 to 2011, Vera spent a year with a partner law firm in London.