EU data reform timetable published

The European Parliament has published a timetable for its consideration of the draft Data Protection Regulation. A first working document from Jan Philipp Albrecht (an MEP in the German Green Party), who is leading the Civil Liberties Committee’s (LIBE) work on the proposal, is expected in July and his draft report in November. Votes are not expected before early 2013. LIBE is holding a series of workshops and hearings on the proposal in order to gather different views from stakeholders and experts and the DMA, through FEDMA, our European trade body, will be fully engaged in this process.

Legislative progress
In Brussels, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers both continue working on the draft Regulation.

The UK is represented in the Council by Ministers and officials from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the DMA is keeping in close touch on the discussions in the Working Group, which are making slow progress.

FEDMA is currently meeting with MEPs on the key Parliamentary Committees to explain the industry position on the Regulation. It has developed a position paper to address the key issues in the legislative proposal affecting the direct marketing sector. The paper includes some examples to illustrate the industry’s specific concerns, as well as a series of proposals for amendments which aim at improving the text. Click here for the FEDMA position paper.

Open letter to UK Ministers
The DMA has joined with the Internet Advertising Bureau, the Federation of Small Business and the Coalition for a Digital Economy to send a warning to the UK Government that the proposed draft Regulation will seriously damage the country’s digital economy and, in particular, small businesses.

The letter is addressed to Lord McNally, Minister of State at the MoJ, Mark Prisk MP, BIS Minister for Small Business and Enterprise, and Ed Vaizey MP, the DCMS Minister with responsibility for the digital agenda and creative industries.

The letter welcomes the updating and streamlining of the legislation but claims that proposals would introduce a more restrictive and prescriptive regime that would deny start-ups, small businesses and retailers the revenue they need to develop their activities.

The proposals risk “chilling the evolution of business models” and place significant extra burdens on business, putting UK entrepreneurs and start-ups at a competitive disadvantage.

DMA Research
The DMA has commissioned two pieces of research which will assist in our lobbying on the Data Regulation. An economic impact study of the industry’s value to the UK economy will be published in June and a survey of consumers’ attitudes to privacy will be available on the DMA website soon.

Contact Caroline Roberts, 020 7291 3360.