Brussels, 10/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Friday 10 October, the Justice Ministers of the EU took one small step forward on the reform of the protection of personal data, by agreeing on a partial general approach to chapter 4 of the regulation. This chapter concerns the obligations of those responsible for data handling in public and private companies and the measures to be implemented within this framework, which must take account of the nature, scope, content and handling purpose as well as the risks these present to the rights and freedoms of individuals, the Council explains. Amongst other things, the agreement stipulates the need to “determine the probability and gravity of the risk on the basis of the nature, scope, context and handling purposes of the data. The risk should be the subject of an objective assessment to determine whether the data processing operations bring about a high risk. High risk means a specific risk of infringing the rights and freedoms of individuals”.
These risks could come about when the data processing is likely to lead to physical, material or non-pecuniary damage, particularly when the processing could give rise to discrimination against, the theft or usurpation of an identity, a financial loss, loss of confidentiality of data protected by professional secrecy rules or any other major economic or social damage, the Commission explains.
This partial general approach does not, however, resolve the doubts over the timetable for the reform, pledged by the heads of state and government for early next year. A number of delegations expressed reservations on this chapter 4, particularly Hungary and the United Kingdom, which were not satisfied over the definition of so-called high risks. Romania would like to retain the possibility of making changes to this chapter 4. The Justice Ministers still have many areas of the regulation to clear, such as the right to be forgotten, which is likely to be changed as a result of the Court of Justice ruling, and on the 'single point of contact' mechanism, on which there is still no agreement. In Luxembourg on Friday, the Italian Presidency was, however, extremely positive about the likelihood of a general agreement on the reform in December of this year “on the basis of the morning's discussions” and the fact “the distances between the member states seem to be falling”, according to Minister Andrea Orlando. Commissioner Martine Reicherts shares this view. However, other observers feel that a more realistic timetable would be for this general agreement to be reached in the spring, whereupon trialogue meetings with the Parliament could start.