The European Parliament’s negotiator on the e-Privacy regulation, Birgit Sippel MEP, has called for trilogue talks between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission to start as soon as possible, after years of member states blocking progress. E-Privacy rules will give citizens control over how their confidential information can be used or shared online.

Birgit Sippel, negotiator on the e-Privacy regulation, said:

“After four years of blocking the e-Privacy regulation, the agreement in the Council on a negotiating mandate is long overdue. For too long, some national governments have sat idly by while basic rights to privacy online are trampled on.

“In the Council’s position, it is clear that industry’s attempts to erode e-Privacy rules over the past few years have borne fruit - they had more than enough time. Instead of helping to better protect people’s private communications online, they rather seem to primarily serve the business models of some e-communications service providers.

“As the European Parliament’s negotiator, one thing is clear: the trilogue negotiations on e-Privacy must start as soon as possible. But what is even more important is that we can finally guarantee legal certainty and real protection for citizens and companies. Under no circumstances will we accept a race to the bottom. We will not stand for any attempt to undermine the current levels of protection for data protection and privacy.”