Today’s European Data Protection Day is a chance to both celebrate Europe’s strong principles on data protection and to reflect on the forthcoming changes that will be introduced through the new revised legislative framework.

During ETNO’s interview last week with MEP Jan Albrecht, lead Rapporteur for the draft General Data Protection Regulation, MEP Albrecht described the new Regulation as being “a huge benefit for business innovation” and noted the overall reduction of administrative burden, with a single legal framework in place for the whole European market. This will help many of ETNO’s members who operate pan-European businesses and for whom the inconsistent application of the current framework has been a problem. However, ETNO hopes that the economic dimension of data protection is adequately considered, in particular when considering the increasingly global nature of electronic services, where EU-established businesses compete with non-EU based businesses and are subject to European data protection rules that may be much more burdensome than those of third countries. ETNO also calls for a new reflection on the “explicit consent” requirement, which does not allow scope for business innovation.

“ETNO believes that the new EU regulation will contribute to increased consumer confidence around protection of their personal data, as users will benefit from the same rules throughout the EU regardless of where the service originates. This legislative review process is a unique opportunity to develop sound data protection rules which are technologically neutral, future proof and flexible enough to allow for the development of new services in Europe, many of which will be driven by Cloud Computing.  A level playing field between European and non- European companies that collect European citizens’ data must be secured. This opportunity must not be lost”, said Luigi Gambardella, ETNO Executive Board Chair.

Much has yet to be done on the new package and ETNO looks forward to continuing the dialogue with policy makers.