Brussels, 09/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - While the European Parliament should soon be deciding, in second reading, on the common position adopted in December by the Council regarding the draft directive relating to data protection in the electronic communications sector, UNICE, the European employers' association, expresses concern about the fate reserved for "cookies". The latter are used by website administrators to survey the activity and navigation habits of Internet users. UNICE considers that the measures adopted could be a brake on the development of the Internet and discourage consumers.
This is a highly controversial issue. On one hand, the Parliament trusts Member States will ban the use of electronic communications networks to stock the information stored in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user. The Council, on the other hand, has more mitigated feelings: in its common position, formally adopted on 28 January, it provides for consumers to be informed of the presence of cookies and believes there should be easy opt-out possibilities. UNICE fears that the prior information approach will create barriers to the use of the Internet and make the web a less user-friendly experience. The risk, says the business association, "is that Internet users will be confronted by multiple pop-up windows providing them with information 'prior' to the sending of each cookie". UNICE insists that such a solution would make the Internet experience extremely cumbersome and create a disincentive for use of the Internet, which runs counter to the Commission's aim of "getting Europe on-line". In a press release, UNICE stresses it supports the principle of informing the consumer of the possibilities of personal data being processed and the principle of allowing users to reduce this processing, but calls on European institutions to refrain from "creating unnecessary barriers to the Internet and to seek to improve the Council of Ministers' position which will provide a workable solution".