Monday 15 June 2015

Comeback of the EU data protection reform

Today the Council announced that its ministers agreed to open negotiations with the European Parliament on the new data protection rules. The Data Protection Directive has been under review for quite some time, with the European Commission proposing new rules in January 2012 (see our previous post EU data protection reform announced) and the European Parliament supporting them in March 2014 (New EU data protection rules - one step forward). It's quite controversial whether data protection can be improved, whether and to what extent this improvement is desirable (considering e.g. often conflicting consumer interests - in privacy but also in lowering transaction costs). The reform is, therefore, still likely to take some time. However, the first talks between European legislators are to commence already this month. As a result of the reform consumers rights are to be strengthened through the right to be forgotten, a right to data portability, data protection by design and by default, a right to be notified of personal data breaches. Enforcement of data protection is to be strengthened to. (see Stronger data protection rules for Europe)