Luxembourg, 26/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner Viviane Reding said in Luxembourg on Friday 26 October that she was prepared to soften her line on controversial aspects of reform of the 1995 data protection rules, a process which began in January, but is challenged by a number of countries. On 24 July this year, the discontented states (including the United Kingdom and Hungary) criticised the proposals for including too many delegated acts and granting too many powers without taking sufficient account of the problems caused to small business and not taking enough account of the public sector arrangements desired by Germany and other countries.
At a meeting of EU27 ministers on Friday, Reding softened her line and suggested solutions on three areas. For small businesses, the Commissioner said she was prepared to examine further exemptions (small businesses were already granted exemption in the draft legislation published in January from having to appoint a data protection officer). She said she is prepared to look into the matter, but wants to avoid lobbyists demanding a raft of exemptions for small businesses and playing into the hands of big multinationals, she said. On the four dozen delegated acts and implementation acts for the new rules, Reding said she was prepared to reduce them in number and examine each one of them with the member states in line with detailed criteria to ensure no amendments were made to the legislation on the table and that different rules were not introduced for different technologies. In July, the member states complained that the Commission was giving itself too much power through the delegated acts. On Friday, Reding said that the work to change the acts would cut the powers granted to the Commission by 40%. A further controversial issue is the way the draft regulation handles the public sector. The idea of a blanket exemption for the public sector was rejected in July, but Reding says she is prepared to consider special rules for things like land ownership.
Reding says that agreement is possible on all three areas in December, which would enable the upcoming Irish Presidency to achieve its aim of agreement in principle during the first six months of next year. The United Kingdom does not want a regulation, preferring a more relaxed directive, but has not managed to torpedo the plans. A source says the UK was trying on Friday to fine a vetoing minority to prevent the regulation going through, but was not successful, although Hungary and Denmark joined the UK on this.
Some sources say that agreement in principle in 2013 across the board is highly unlikely. The EU27 has not yet started working on other aspects of reform of the 1995 rules, such as the directive on data processing by the police and courts, where Reding wants to increase data protection. The United States has expressed hostility, fearing a weakening of investigations carried out by the US with the EU member states. (SP/transl.fl)