The State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ('LfDI Mecklenburg-Vorpommern') published, on 31 May 2022, its 2021 activity report. In particular, the LfDI Mecklenburg-Vorpommern stated that the report reflects the authority's continuous monitoring of data protection issues arising from the Government's measures to contain the pandemic, and covers the questions and complaints that arose in practice over the past year. Furthermore, the LfDI Mecklenburg-Vorpommern highlighted that the report further reflects its increased focus on consulting and support, and less in taking repressive measures against organisations. More specifically, the LfDI Mecklenburg-Vorpommern noted that the number of recommendations and consultation requests has increased slightly compared to the previous year, whereas data breach reports increased from 173 reported breaches to 259.

Moreover, the LfDI Mecklenburg-Vorpommern noted that the increased security threat to technical systems and the dependence on large individual providers who do not follow the data protection principles of the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) ('GDPR') has demonstrated the need for a strategy for digital sovereignty. As such, the LfDI Mecklenburg-Vorpommern stated that it has been advising on the planned introduction of the electronic file known as 'eAkte', which consists of platform-independent software with open standards and interfaces, allowing the use of open source operating systems and software applications.

You can read the press release here and the report here, both only available in German.