Data protection

The European Parliament today adopted a report on the reform of the EU data protection directive, in a reply to the Commission's communication from 2010. This will now feed into the legislative proposal, which is expected at the end of the year. After the vote Green data protection expert Jan Philipp Albrecht  MEP said:

"With this vote, the EP has thrown its weight behind the efforts of justice commissioner Viviane Reding in her efforts to further harmonise data protection in the EU at a high level. In the face of massive digitisation in an increasingly interdependent world, harmonised European rules are an important saftety net. The protection level of the 1995 data protection directive will serve as the basis on which even better privacy has to be achieved. The police and justice sectors should now be included, and there will be harmonised rules for data processing and citizens' rights to access and rectification. 

"The EP has called for the strengthening of data protection authorities and finally introducing class action lawsuits. We also have made clear that European data protection law shall be applied wherever personal data on European consumers and citizens is collected and processed. It is now in the hands of the Commission to include these demands in its legislative proposal. As Greens, we are committed to fighting on all levels for better protection of personal data in Europe. We are also in contact with the US administration and the US Congress in order to ensure that current efforts for better data privacy on the other side of the Atlantic are coordinated with ours."