EU Data Protection Regulation latest

The EU Data Protection Regulation is entering its closing stages. In the coming months the Council will conclude their version of the text and then the Trilogue negotiations will begin. The DMA still has many reservations about the various iterations of the regulation and favours some versions over others. Chris Combemale, executive director of the DMA, and I travelled to Brussels to voice those concerns with Bruno Gecarelli, Head of the Data Protection Unit at the Commission, and his policy team.

A particular high note during the meeting was the warm reception the DMA Code received, we gave a hard copy to each official who were impressed that DMA had acted pro-actively. The Code consistently impresses policy makers and civil servants. The move to a principles-based code of conduct was a great step for the DMA and one that is now paying dividends.

In their concluding remarks the policy team felt that the Council and Parliament texts are currently going through a convergence, which will make it easier to arrive at compromise during Trilogue negotiations. Also, the Parliament position has been known for some time and so the Commission knows, generally speaking, what their redline issues are. Bruno Gencarelli’s opinion was that the regulation would be formally concluded around November, December or January 2016. This is in line with the view of the majority of interested stakeholders.

While we did not agree on all topics discussed, overall, the meeting was positive. The Commission demonstrated that they understand the concerns of the data-driven industries and do not intend to prevent profiling by marketers or remove 'legitimate interest' as a basis for one-to-one marketing contact.

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