Brussels, 26/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - Proposals for reform of European rules on data protection, presented on Wednesday by Commissioner Viviane Reding (see EUROPE 10538 and 10539), received a warm welcome by the different political groups at the European Parliament. The ALDE Group is particularly sensitive about this subject and obviously welcomed the reform, which intends to place the protection of European citizens' data at the heart of all policies. The group also welcomed the determination to strengthen internet users' rights and to give them more control over their data, through obligations on companies to have the explicit consent of internet users or the necessity of swiftly reporting infringements of European rules to the appropriate authorities.
The S&D Group considers that the Commission has clearly made some significant efforts to improve the rules in this area and promised to examine the proposals by the commissioner very closely, in an effort to prevent any derogations being introduced, explained Claudio Moraes, who is responsible for internal affairs at the S&D Group.
The EPP was delighted with the proposals and said that this was even a major step forward for data protection in the EU, Axel Voss (Germany) the head of data protection in this group explained. He both welcomed the greater rights of Europeans and the economic benefits for companies, which would no longer have to get lost in the patchwork of 27 different kinds of legislation.
The ALDE and S&D Groups, however, indicated that they would be vigilant with regard to internal affairs and police and legal co-operation, covered by a directive that replaces framework Decision 2008/977 /JHA. ALDE will therefore examine this directive in great detail and its compatibility with all laws and agreements passed by member states following 11 September 2001, such as the Passenger Name Records (PNR) and the (SWIFT/TFTP) bank agreement with the US. These agreements will need to be examined again in light of this new directive, explained Renate Weber.
US circumspect. Questioned on Thursday morning during a press meeting, the US representation in Brussels explained that it would look at the implications of this new directive on the transatlantic agreements concluded in the police and judicial field. So far, European provisions do not appear to have put these instruments in danger, asserted one diplomat. As a whole, the US mission considers that the work undertaken by Reding is “welcome” and useful to the debate that the US itself is carrying out on data protection. A White Paper will also soon be published on the subject, which focuses on Americans' rights in this arena. With regard to the principles listed in the reform, the US therefore is not posing any particular objections but discussions will focus more on “technical aspects”, added the representative. More informally, however, certain Commission sources explained that pressure had been exerted and that “intensive lobbying” by Washington had been carried out during the preparation of the reform, particularly with regard to the right of oblivion sought by the Luxembourg commissioner. The reform presented on Wednesday will have an impact on US companies offering services to Europeans, such as Facebook and Google. Nonetheless, the US representation refrained from providing an official response on Thursday. (SP/transl.fl)