• by Ray Schultz , May 17, 2021

EU nations have meted out 661 GDPR fines since the law took effect three years ago, according to a study by Privacy Affairs. 

Spain apparently was the leader in the number of fines it has issued:

• Spain — 222 
• Italy — 73 
• Romania — 54 
• Hungary — 39 
• Germany — 30 
• Norway — 26 
• Belgium — 25 
• Czech Republic — 25 
• Poland — 23 
• Bulgaria — 20

There was a different ranking for the monetary amounts: 

• Italy — €76,217,601 
• France —  €54,661,300 
• Germany — €49,186,833 
• United Kingdom — €44,221,000 
• Spain — €29,372,510 
• Sweden — €12,332,430 
• Netherlands — € 5,012,500 
• Bulgaria — €3,210,69 
• Poland — €1,816,498 
• Norway — €1,277,550

Not all fines were issued to companies -- some were doled out to individuals:

• €20,000 to a person in Spain for video surveillance of employees. 
• €11,000 to a football coach in Austria for filming female players in the shower. 
• €9,000 a person in Spain for illegal video surveillance of employees. 
• €2,500 to a person in Germany who sent out emails to several people where each could see the other recipients' email addresses. 
• €2,200 to a person in Austria for having illegally filming public areas using a personal CCTV system.