Members of the European Parliament and national governments are in final negotiations to find an agreement on a new EU-wide data protection law.
Just one more trilogue meeting (on Tue Dec 15, 2015) to conclude the final release of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), a text that’s been subject of intense negotiation for almost four years and runs into nearly 200 pages (139 recitals and 91 articles).
An extraordinary meeting of the LIBE Committee has been planned (on Thu Dec 17, 2015) to vote on the text agreed during interinstitutional negotiations. (Twitter – Fri Dec 11, 2015)
So… waiting for the last GDPR Trilogue let’s have a look to the following points of view (EU Representatives are really optimistic while U.S. Attorney General is quite critical and the European Data Coalition have some concerns regarding sanctions and international data transfers).
Jan Albrecht – Parliament’s rapporteur on the General Data Protection Regulation (European Parliament)
“Now, as we approach December 2015, the negotiations on the data protection package are indeed close to the finishing line. The last open differences between Commission, Parliament and Council should be overcome until the trilogue meeting on 15 December, so that a compromise text can be presented before the Christmas break. But of course, this depends on the political will to deliver a result after almost five years of negotiations.”
(The Parliament Magazine ‘It is ‘high time’ for data protection rules‘, by Jan Albrecht – Mon Dec 7, 2015)
Věra Jourová – European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality (European Commission)
Věra Jourová @VeraJourova · 10 dic
‘#data2015 happy to say #EUDataP reform is in its very final stage – hope to have an agreement within 2 weeks‘
(Twitter – Thu Dec 10, 2015)
Presidency of the Council of the European Union
“In view of the next trilogues with the European Parliament, the Presidency invites the Permanent Representatives Committee to examine the Presidency compromise suggestions with a view to confirmation and give a mandate to the Presidency to continue negotiations with the European Parliament on this basis with the aim to find agreement on the General Data Protection Regulation by the end of this year”.
(Preparation for trilogue 14605/15 – Fri Nov 27, 2015 – document partially accessible to the public on Tue Dec 8, 2015)
Giovanni Buttarelli – European Data Protection Supervisor
“Next week – just in time for Christmas – we expect the Parliament and Council to reach a political agreement on the GDPR (progress on agreeing the directive is taking a bit longer). Final adoption of the regulation will take a few more months – April or May 2016 would be a good guess, and it will become fully applicable in about two years – around Spring 2018”.
(‘The General Data Protection Regulation: Making the world a better place?‘ keynote speech at TRUSTe’s ‘EU Data Protection 2015 Regulation Meets Innovation’ event – Wed Dec 9, 2015)
“The GDPR has now been the subject of intense negotiation for almost four years (…) but we can now be confident that the European Parliament and the Council and only a few weeks away from political Agreement.
Data protection is a democratic value and it can reinforce democracy in the digital age.
Data protection is not, per se, about privacy. Privacy is a separate right in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.
Data protection is about power: who does what, and how they do it responsibly and accountably.
That is why data protection is such an integral bulwark of our democracy”.
(‘Data protection as a bulwark for digital democracy’ keynote speech at the 6th International e-Democracy 2015 Conference on Citizen rights in the world of the new computing paradigms – Thu Dec 10, 2015)
Loretta Lynch – U.S. Attorney General
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in a speech at London’s Chatham House think tank, warned that a planned European Union Data Protection Law could undermine efforts to thwart terrorist attacks by restricting transatlantic information sharing:
“It is certainly highly concerning to us that data privacy legislation advancing in the European Parliament might further restrict transatlantic information sharing (…)”.
She also said that such a step “ignores the critical need for that information sharing to fight terrorism and transnational crime, but also overlooks the important steps forward that the Obama administration and Congress have taken to protect privacy.”
(Reuters ‘Attorney General Lynch chides European decisions to restrict data sharing‘ – Wed Dec 9, 2015)
European Data Coalition
The Coalition is made up of nineteen European companies, from SMEs to Global Multinationals and non-profit organisations that operate across different sectors of the economy with significant operations within and beyond the borders of the European Union.
The Coalition strive to make a positive contribution to EU lawmaking on the General Data Protection Regulation, through a constructive dialogue with relevant institutions.
In view of the approaching end of the trilogue negotiations, the Coalition published the following papers:
– Avoid a Permanent Freeze on European Digital Economy – (Fri Dec 11, 2015)
This Coalition paper urges the negotiators to review the liability and sanctions regime.
– Letter to the Prime Ministers of the 28 Member States of the European Union – (Tue Dec 1, 2015)
The letter asks the 28 Prime Ministers to refrain from voting for a General Position if the outcomes listed in the letter are not secured.
Wait and see… Christmas is coming!