It's hard for me to come up with a number. I'm a jurist, not someone who studies economic repercussions in any depth. It would be interesting to know.
One thing that's certain is that the more time goes by, the more we end up in a state of uncertainty because other countries are beginning to position themselves. Our position remains unclear. We can still catch up, but the United States is already far ahead of us.
We have increasing access to the whole world for business. That's true for SMEs and large corporations.
What's harming us in this context is the fact that we don't have any clear rules. For example, with respect to data management, what are the rules that govern access to personal data and the protection of privacy? What are the expectations with respect to abuses by those who have a dominant market position?
The more uncertainty continues, the more of an impact it will have on our companies to compete on an equal footing with their international peers. Inaction definitely has a cost, but I can't really assign a value to it as such. I don't think the problem is serious yet, but it's going to become serious.
When the Europeans adopted their privacy regulation, everyone said that it would be impossible and that no one would comply. But then all of a sudden, it has become the standard and the whole world is trying to catch up.
It would be unfortunate if we were to find ourselves in a situation where all major decisions were being made elsewhere and we simply had to cope with decisions made by others. That's my biggest fear.