Luxembourg, 15 June 2015
Justice Ministers from all of the EU-countries have agreed on the new data protection act. Heavy fines for those who do not adapt and enforcement of the right to be forgotten and over data misuse.
This step allows the opening of negotiations with the Parliament, which will start from the 24th of June, to get to its adoption. Once the Member States sign the package, the final text will be supplemented by the European Parliament and European Commission.
"This agreement represents a major step forward - says the Commissioner for Justice Vera Jurová - brings us closer to the ultimate goal of the reform on data protection by the end of year".
The right to be forgotten will be enhanced. When the citizen does not want that data relating to him is processed and there are no legitimate grounds to keep them, the controller must delete them, or demonstrate that they are still necessary or relevant.
The citizen will also be better informed in case of a breach of data concerning him. The right to data portability will facilitate the transfer of personal data from one service provider to another.
The same rules will apply to everyone, even to non-European companies that offer services in the EU.
National authorities will be strengthened to enable them to ensure the effective implementation of rules and so they can impose on companies that breach EU rules on the protection of data, fines of up to 1 million euro or even equal to 2% of the world annual turnover.
In addition, the rules introduce the so-called ‘one stop shop’, ie, a single authority at the European level, to which businesses and citizens will be able to address issues, resulting in simplifications and cost cutting; people will have to interact only with the national data protection authorities of their country, in their own language, even if personal data concerning them is treated elsewhere.
(European Commission – Press release)
(For more details see MEMO)
Francesca, I think THIS IS the most important piece on news: “Justice Ministers from all of the EU-countries have agreed on the new data protection act”. So the new Regulation will be approved sooner or later.
This year?
In the opinion of Věra Jourova, Commissioner for Justice, yes. “I am convinced that we can reach a final agreement with the European Parliament and the Council by the end of this year”
We all hope like that…
by this link
http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9565-2015-INIT/en/pdf
the complete document, which will be discussed on June 24 at Bruxelles.
I remember that this is only a first step to agree the roadmap.
Data protection reform timetable up to December this year.
I have been shown this article: http://www.eppgroup.eu/news/Data-protection-reform-timetable
Even if some key points are still to be agreed upon, each new formal step enforces the idea that Europe is really willing to finalize the process, and this one.
It doesn’t matter if some of the current or future changes to the text approved by the EU Parliament may seem a step back: it is the overall design that is relevant. Europe is willing to be an important actor in the new social and economic scenario that digital transformation is shaping.
Trust is the base of the digital era and personal data protection is key for trust.
I agree