Brussels, 21/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - The S&D Group is entirely opposed to the report by Sean Kelly (EPP, Ireland) on the new rules for the protection of personal data, adopted by the ITRE committee on Wednesday 20 February by 33 votes - mainly those of the EPP, ALDE and ECR Groups - but rejected by 24 votes (and not 4 as mistakenly indicated in EUROPE 10790).
Although European businesses, especially representatives of SMEs, welcomed the outcome of the vote, the S&D Group voices concern, in a press release, at seeing the public's level of protection fall. Accusing the Christian-Democrats and Liberals of seeking to bring personal data protection standards down, it will state its opposition in April during the vote at the civil liberties committee (LIBE), which is competent on the matter.
Social Democrats above all reproach the ITRE committee for having adopted a toned-down definition of the principle of explicit consent by the internet user, a principle that the commissioner for justice, Viviane Reding, had hoped to impose on companies using personal data. The ITRE committee takes the view that silence and inaction is not tantamount to acceptance and that each person should give a free, specific, unambiguous indication of what he/she wants. The S&D Group, on the other hand, would prefer consent to be defined by clear and affirmative action on the part of the person concerned.
The ITRE committee agreed, moreover, to the principle of exempting SMEs from a number of provisions, such as the obligation to employ someone responsible for protecting data or notifying certain violations of data protection. It also said that, although citizen protection should not be questioned, the situation of micro and small businesses should also be taken into account. The recruitment of a person responsible for personal data should not be compulsory for companies not having systematic data processing at the heart of their activities.
Here too, the S&D Group, the Conservatives and the Liberals wished to attenuate the principle of notification, generally considering that Wednesday's vote reduces the level of protection that Europeans are entitled to demand.
The European Parliament committee on civil liberties is to adopt its stance in April. The rapporteur, Jan-Philipp Albrecht (Greens/EFA, Germany), definitely wants to avoid any downward revision of the current standards regarding the protection of personal data. Nonetheless, the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (UEAPME) urged the members of the LIBE committee to follow the direction taken by their counterparts at the ITRE committee. According to that association, the Kelly report sets out the best possible balance between the need to have a strong legislative framework and the need not to overload SMEs. (SP/transl.jl)