EU Commission Data Protection Regulation update following Italian Presidency

The EU Commission believes the Regulation is entering its final stages amid building political momentum across the EU to approve it. Commentators should not underestimate the level of political will to drive the legislation forward, says the Commission, which anticipates that the Justice and Home Affairs Ministers (Council) it will conclude its version of the Regulation by March 2015.

EU Commission’s deadline is overly optimistic

The DMA finds this deadline to be somewhat optimistic, as has been the case with Commission deadlines for the Regulation. The Council may approve its version of the text as early as March but June seems to be a more realistic prospect.

The Commission official also remarked that a number of Member States had moved to a more constructive position in the Council negotiations where they are prepared to make sensible concessions.

The Commission is positive about the agreement made with regards to the risk-based approach in chapter 4 during the Italian Presidency. Chapter 4 concerns the obligations of data controllers and processors. The application of the risk-based approach includes exemptions for SMEs with regards to record-keeping and the appointment of data protection officers.

Key issues surrounding the one-stop shop

A major point of discussion during the meeting was the one-stop shop, the mechanism by which the Member States will deal with cross-border data protection disputes. The current Italian proposal includes handing legal personality to a new body called the European Data Protection Board, whose decisions would be legally binding on Member States.

Handing legal personality to the European Data Protection Board is politically quite toxic for the UK given the current discourse around sovereignty and the EU. The Commission official was positive about the Italian proposal and was keen to emphasise that the one-stop shop was intended only for the most serious cross-border issues and not minor disputes.

The Italian Presidency has made good progress during its tenure advancing the risk-based approach. The Commission official said that the Commission and the Council had demonstrated a proportionate approach to the negotiations and understood the industry issues at hand and how ill-thought legislation would damage business.

The Latvian Presidency is now well placed next year to address the key issues for DMA members surrounding pseudonymous data, profiling and the one-stop shop.

Want to know more? Attend Data protection 2015 on 27 February