On April 29, 2013, the Belgian Privacy Commission announced that it referred a data breach case involving The National Belgian Railway Company to the Brussels Public Prosecutor. The data breach, which occurred in December 2012, resulted in the 1.46 million sets of customer data being made publicly available online. The Privacy Commission investigated the case and concluded that there had been a violation of the Belgian Data Protection Act, but since the Privacy Commission does not have the authority to impose sanctions for the violation, it referred the case to the prosecutor’s office to initiate criminal proceedings. The Privacy Commission commented that this is the first time that it has referred a data breach case to the Public Prosecutor.
In the context of this and other recent data breaches, the Privacy Commission issued guidelines on how to prevent data breaches and how to provide notification of data breaches when they do occur (i.e., within 48 hours to the competent authorities).
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On February 23, 2026, a Joint Statement on AI-Generated Imagery was published by 61 data protection authorities. The Joint Statement addresses concerns regarding AI systems capable of generating realistic images and videos depicting identifiable individuals without their knowledge or consent.
On February 18, 2026, Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones announced that his office intends to fully enforce new provisions of the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act restricting minors’ use of social media.
On January 8, 2026, the Kentucky Attorney General announced the first enforcement action against a company for alleged violations of the Kentucky Consumer Data Protection Act, just eight days after the law went into effect. The enforcement action is part of a larger legislative and regulatory focus on AI-powered chatbots used by minors.
On November 17, 2025, the Council of the European Union adopted new rules designed to strengthen cooperation among national data protection authorities, enhancing the enforcement of the EU General Data Protection Regulation.
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