The draft of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) defies both German as well as European constitutional law. This conclusion has been reached by IT and media-law experts Prof. Thomas Hoeren and Prof. Noogie C. Kaufmann. According to their analysis, the present draft of the EU regulation blatantly violates the occupational liberty of collection agencies and thus Germany's Constitution.

Corresponding to the draft, creditors must first seek debtors' permission for all "non-contractual claims" before they can commission a collection agency. This affects numerous claims, for example legal claims for damages. The consequence: Creditors would no longer be able to act on such claims with the aid of collection agencies.

The work of credit agencies would be even more restricted than that of collection agencies because the proposal would deprive them of the legal basis for their activities to the greatest extent. Yet the economy is vitally dependent upon credit agencies' services. For example, retailers regularly review the solvency of their prospective clients. If that should cease to be an option, many consumers would no longer be able to buy products as easily and as quickly as used to.

Moreover, the proposed regulations disregard European "constitutional law" guidelines.

Germany's national association of collection agencies, which commissioned the expert opinion, calls on the EU to find a regulation that does not threaten the existence of a legitimate business model.

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