Latest from the trilogue negotiations in Brussels.

The first trilogue meeting, the three-way negotiations between the EU Parliament, Council and Commission, on the Data Protection Regulation took place today. Afterwards the EU Council, Parliament and Commission gave a joint press conference.

Jan Philip Albrecht, rapporteur for the European Parliament said:

“The Trilogue today showed very clearly that this is feasible if all parties are open to compromise. All parties are committed to the timetable. The texts are actually a lot closer to each other now than we thought a few months ago.”

He went on to say that he thought it was possible that the three bodies could reach an agreement by the end of the year. However, the DMA thinks this target is ambitious especially considering the record of slow progress concerning the regulation and so Q1 2016 seems more realistic.

The Council emphasised that the focus is on quality and the process should not be rushed unnecessarily.

EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Vera Jourova, agreed with Albrecht that the three different iterations of the text had more in common with than previously thought and stated that the Commission was willing to compromise. She was keen to add that the level of protection should not be below that provided in current data protection directive.

She also presented findings from a recent Eurobarometer study which she used to demonstrate the pressing need for a new regulation. Some statistics she quoted:

- Only a minority (15%) feel they have complete control over the information they provide online; 31% think they have no control over it at all.

- A majority of respondents are concerned about the recording of their activities via payment cards an d via mobile phones (55% in both cases).

- Roughly seven out of ten people are concerned about their information being used for a different purpose from the one it was collected for.

There is still a long way to go in the negotiations but at least the process is finally underway.

You can read more about the Data Protection Regulation here.