GDPRhub style guide

General hints when editing GDPRhub

GDPRhub aims at making legal texts from across the EU accessible for everyone. At the same time the legal culture has very local traditions, customs and styles. We therefore ask all editors to follow these basic principles:

• Use Simple English - English is not the first language for most readers.
• Provide the necessary context, so that a foreign reader (that may not know the local procedure or facts) can follow you.
• Use our templates when you create a new page.
• Use the text editor (not the visual editor) when possible, to ensure you can include all necessary code.
• Check that a new page is categorized properly, so that readers can find it.

References within GDPRhub

Citing Laws

GDPR

All Articles are called "Article X GDPR". We do not use abbreviations like "Art." or "Art" as they are widely different in each jurisdiction.

Paragraphs and subparagraph are added in brackets, as there are different forms of naming them in the member states.

Example: Article 6(1)(a) GDPR

Recitals are also not shortened.

Example: Recital 47

Other EU Laws

Other EU laws follow the same system for naming the articles, but have the name of the legal act (e.g. regulation, directive) after the Article.

Example: Article 5 of the ePrivacy Directive should be cited as "Article 5 Directive 2002/58/EC."

When there is a common name for an act that allows the reader to understand the content of the act quicker, you should put the common name between the Article and the official number of the legal act. Keep the official number to ensure that the reader can still identify the act.

Example: Article 5 of the ePrivacy Directive should be cited as "Article 5 ePrivacy Directive 2002/58/EC."

National Laws

National laws are cited as usual in each country, but paragraphs and subparagraph follow the system of brackets, as they are widely different in each national jurisdiction.

Example: § 6 Abs 4 Lit c) of an Austrian law becomes § 6(1)(c) on GDPRhub.

Example: Section 1 para 1(c) of an Irish law becomes Section 1(2)(c) on GDPRhub.

Linking laws

When you cite a law for the first time on a page, you should always also link to the original text of the law, so that the reader can easily follow and verify your work.

GDPR

GDPRhub has a page for each GDPR Article. It includes the text, the relevant recitals and a commentary on the Article. Ideally you should link to the actual subparagraph of each Article, as GDPRhub is using these subparagraphs to find the right cases.

Example: A case about consent as a legal basis should always use Article 6(1)(a) GDPR, not only Article 6 GDPR.

You can link to each page in the text editor by putting two square brackets before and after the Article.

Example: [[Article 6 GDPR]] will be become Article 6 GDPR on a page.

You can show another name for the link (e.g. to only name it "Article 6" and not repeat "GDPR" within a text more than necessary.

Example: [[Article 6 GDPR|Article 6]] will be visible as Article 6.

You should always link to the exact part of the Article, which can be done by adding the subparagraph at the end of the link. For technical reasons, brackets are not possible here. Subparagraph (1)(b) therefore has to be written as "1b!

Example: [[Article 6 GDPR#1b|Article 6(1)(b)]] becomes Article 6(1)(b) and links to Article 6, section (1), subsection (b) of the relevant page.

Other national and EU laws

For other national or EU laws you should link to the official publication of the law with a hyperlink.

Example: § 9 of the Austrian Data Protection Act (DSG) is linked as § 9 DSG to redirect to the external source.

Footnotes

References (e.g. to books, laws, cases or other documents) within a text can be added by using the wiki-function "Reference".

In the text editor you can just put the reference/footnote between an"<ref>" and "</ref>" element. It will generate a footnote and move the link to the text (your reference) between the two tags to the bottom of the page.

In the visual editor, you can click on "cite" to include a reference/footnote. It will generate a footnote and move the link to the reference to the bottom of the page.

Consistent names on GDPRhub

Naming DPA and court cases

On GDPRhub all cases are named by Court/DPA, a dash and the case number or the case name. If a case number is available, always use the case number. If no case name or number is available, you may use a description of the case as a title.

If there is an abbreviation of the court or DPA, this will be used for titles. Abbreviations of the DPAs can be found in the DPA overview. Abbreviations of courts can be found in the court overview.

Example: Decision FS50819531 of the Information Commissioner's Office is called "ICO - FS50819531".

Naming DPAs and courts in page titles

The names of DPAs are mostly the abbreviation in the national language and the country name in brackets. Abbreviations of all DPAs can be found in the DPA overview

Example: The UK Information Commissioner's Office can be found as ICO (UK).

Courts are named by the abbreviation and the country name in brackets.

Example: A case of the Den Haag Court of First Instance (Rechtbank) can be found as Rb. Den Haag - C/09/581973/KG ZA 19/1024.

Local names of laws and institutions

Names of many non-English elements (e.g. names of a court or a law in the local language) can be very confusing and hard to follow. To ensure that the reader can follow the articles, an English translation and the original name are used on GDPRhub.

Always use an English translation (or description) and add the local name in brackets to that the reader can follow you. Local abbreviations are used and may be added in the brakes, separated with a dash. When further citing the element or using it in a title of a page, you may use the national abbreviation.

Example: The German "Oberlandesgericht Köln" becomes the "Hight Regional Court Cologne (Oberlandesgeicht Köln - OLG Köln)".

Example: The German "Oberlandesgericht Köln" becomes the "OLG Cologne" when used in a page titel.

Example: The German Bundesdatenschutzgesetz (BDSG) becomes the "German Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz - BDSG). Once this abbreviation is established on a page, you may later simply refer to the BDSG in your article.

Specific elements on GDPRhub

Examples

Examples can be added by including ::<u>Example:</u> before a paragraph in the text editor.

Example: This is an example.