More than a dozen EU states have objected to draft ePrivacy Regulation text intended to complement GDPR in relation to communications
Last week, the European Digital Rights (EDRi)—a civil and human rights organisation—broke the news that the Permanent Representatives Committee of the Council of the European Union has rejected the Council’s position on the draft ePrivacy Regulation. This shocking outcome comes some two years after the EU Commission issued a proposal for a new ePrivacy law. Undoubtedly, it is creating a stir as to what this could mean for the privacy rights of individuals in today’s highly technological world.
The rejected draft ePrivacy Regulations were meant to replace the existing ePrivacy and Electronic Communications Directive which was enacted in 2002 and amended in 2009. This update of the EU ePrivacy regulations would serve to complement the GDPR in order to strengthen the protection of EU citizens’ private lives.
With last week’s vote inciting public concern and uncertainty as to whether the ePrivacy reform will ultimately remain suspended or possibly be withdrawn, Aphaia’s Managing Partner, Dr Bostjan Makarovic says: “Whereas there seems to be a clear need to align the 2009 European e-privacy rules with the GDPR, the direction and the details of this alignments seem to be less than clear. It seems that some pressing questions such as on cookies consent and privacy of ancillary online chat services will therefore have to wait a bit longer to be resolved.”
Meanwhile we share the EDRi’s hopes that in the weeks and months to comes, a new draft text which ensures privacy by design and default will not only be presented, but enacted.
