European Parliament rapporteurs today presented two draft reports on the reform of the EU’s data protection rules proposed by the European Commission just a year ago. In their reports, Jan-Philipp Albrecht, rapporteur for the proposed Data Protection Regulation for the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) of the European Parliament, and, Dimitrios Droutsas, rapporteur for the proposed Data Protection Directive for the law enforcement sector, express their full support for a coherent and robust data protection framework with strong end enforceable rights for individuals. They also stress the need for a high level of protection for all data processing activities in the European Union to ensure more legal certainty, clarity and consistency.
“The protection of personal data is a fundamental right for all Europeans. Opinion polls show that individuals do not always feel in full control of their data. Policy makers and companies must therefore do better,” said Vice-President Viviane Reding, the EU’s Justice Commissioner. “I am glad to see that the European Parliament rapporteurs are supporting the Commission’s aim to strengthen Europe’s data protection rules which currently date back to 1995 – pre-Internet age. A strong, clear and uniform legal framework will help unleashing the potential of the Digital Single Market and foster economic growth, innovation and job creation in Europe.”
In their reports on the Commission’s proposals for a general Data Protection Regulation and a Directive for the law enforcement sector the Members of the European Parliament support the proposed package approach. They stress the need to advance negotiations swiftly on both instruments at the same time.
The European Parliament rapporteurs, building on previous reports by the European Parliament such as the Axel Voss report, support the objectives of the reform, which are: to establish a comprehensive approach to data protection, to strengthen online privacy rights and to do away with the current fragmentation of 27 different national data protection laws which are costly and burdensome for businesses operating on Europe’s single market. Here to read more.
