At the beginning of the new 2021, the implementation of the SMEDATA II project began, which is a continuation of the successfully implemented SMEDATA I Project: “Ensuring the Highest Degree of Privacy and Personal Data Protection through Innovative Tools for SMEs and Citizens”. The aim of SMEDATA II is to ensure the sustainability of the achieved results by continuing and further developing the activities for increasing the competence in the field of GDPR among the targeted groups – small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their legal professionals, as well as citizens.

SMEDATA II is co-funded by the European Commission under the Rights, Equality and Citizenship 2014-2020 Programme of the European Union. The project coordinator is the Commission for Personal Data Protection of the Republic of Bulgaria (CPDP). Partners in the project consortium are a large part of the participants in SMEDATA I – Roma Tre University (Italy), APIS Europe JSC, The Union of Bulgarian Jurists, the Bulgarian branch of the European Women Lawyers Association and Ernst & Young Bulgaria.

The following activities are planned within the project:

• updating of a dedicated tailored training and awareness raising methodology in the field of GDPR for SMEs;

• awareness-raising and training events will be organised in Italy and Bulgaria in order to provide full knowledge of GDPR compliance to the target groups;

• upgrading the developed mobile application “GDPR in your pocket” by extension of the content and language scope, and developing a desktop version for Windows 10 devices;

• organisation of an international conference to share experiences and results.

The duration of the project is 18 months, starting from January 1, 2021.