"As a result of a constructive dialogue between the Centre-Right and the Greens and some Socialists, the EP's Legal Affairs Committee has adopted the Opinion regarding personal data protection with a comfortable majority. Today's vote leaves no room for ambiguity: we are in favour of high protection levels for citizens' privacy", said Rapporteur Marielle Gallo.

"In this important dossier for European citizens and enterprises, the Legal Affairs Committee has laid the foundations for a wider political agreement between the different political groups within the Parliament. It is a shame that some Members persist to refuse any reasonable compromise", added Marielle Gallo.

How is such protection guaranteed? An extended definition of personal data, an explicit consent given by citizens to authorise the use of their data, incentives to encrypt data and finally, important financial consequences that could go up to one million Euros, or 2% of their world revenue, for companies that do not respect the rules.

Marielle Gallo has also made it clear that profiling is forbidden if considered discriminatory, in other words if based on ethnic, religious or sexual orientation criteria.

"Let us not forget that this Regulation does not only apply to internet giants like Google or Facebook, but to all enterprises in general, from SMEs to multinational companies within all sectors. This horizontal approach guarantees that the protection we wanted for European citizens is coherent", concluded Marielle Gallo.

(Translation from the original French)

For further information:
Marielle GALLO MEP, Tel: +32-2-2845181
Marion Jeanne , EPP Group Press and Communications Service, Tel: +32-479-840293

Notes to Editors:
The Legal Affairs Committee was the fourth and last Parliamentary Committee to vote an Opinion on the draft Regulation on "the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data". The Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee, which has the lead on, will vote in April.

The EPP Group is by far the largest political group in the European Parliament with 270 Members and 3 Croatian Observer Members.