Brussels, 01/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 29 February, the S&D Group at the European Parliament strongly urged the European Commission to take immediate legal action against potential violations of the 1995 EU data protection directive, following Google's new confidentiality policy which took effect on 1 March. On Tuesday, a study by CNIL (the French data protection authority) on behalf of European supervisors within the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, had said that, after assessment, the new policy was found to be incompatible with EU law. These conclusions were also supported by Commissioner Viviane Reding, who called on the American giant to postpone its new rules, without success. Hannes Swoboda, the Austrian leader, said the Commission “must take immediate action” against Google and any violations of the 1995 directive as European citizens “want to keep using Google without being spied on or having their personal data shared”.
Matthew Newman, Commissioner Viviane Reding's spokesman, said when quizzed on the matter on Wednesday, that the Commission was not yet contemplating legal action (Google is already the subject of several investigations especially on suspicion of dominant position in the field of research engines) and that complaints should first of all be submitted to the relevant national authorities, such as CNIL in France. (SP/transl.jl)