The Romanian Presidency of the Council is working hard to reach a general approach on the regulation project regarding the confidentiality of electronic communications (ePrivacy). Since the beginning of February, almost one new text has been presented each week. The last one, dated 22 February, tackles the delicate issue of data retention. It will be discussed on Tuesday, 26 February.
This proposal aims to strengthen the confidentiality of online exchanges, while allowing personal data of customers who have given their prior consent to be used (see EUROPE 11700). The European Parliament has been waiting since 26 October 2017 to enter into negotiations with the Council (see EUROPE 11892). The Romanian draft special agreement is the third in less than a month (see EUROPE 12186, 12196).
Data retention is a sensitive issue: in December 2016, the EU Court of Justice ruled that “national legislation providing – for the purpose of combating crime – for the generalised and undifferentiated storage of all traffic data and location data of all subscribers and registered users pertaining to all means of electronic communication was illegal” (see EUROPE 11694). Following various exchanges of views, the Romanian Presidency has, this time, proposed to allow Member States to access the content of electronic communications and information stored on devices in respect of the following reasons: public security, prevention of criminal offences or other important objectives of general public interest, protection of persons or the rights and freedoms of others, and execution of civil law requests. The text allows Member States and the EU to impose retention obligations on service providers for a longer period of limitation than is necessary for the transmission of the communication.
The new version further refines the special agreement on the issue of cookies as the basis for targeted advertising (recital 20a). As before, it refers to the technical means of obtaining “specific and informed” consent in order to avoid the ‘consent fatigue’. He added that “operating system and web browser providers” are encouraged to ensure that end-users can establish and amend these white lists and withdraw their consent at any moment in a manner that is user-friendly and transparent (document: https://bit.ly/2GKajGo ). (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)