Brussels, 24/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - With last week's approval of its recommendation on the directive relating to the protection of personal data, the European Parliament's Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights reaffirmed the stance taken by the Assembly at first reading on the essential points of the text.
Thus, MEPs mainly hope that clients' personal data will not be stored by the provider of electronic services longer than is necessary for invoicing purposes. The Member States would not be authorised to suspend the protection of privacy except in exceptional and specific cases, in order to conduct criminal investigations or safeguard national security or the safety of the public.
Regarding the use of "cookies", the spy software used for recording the habits of web browsers, the parliamentary committee shares the Council's position. It considers users must have the right to refuse this system, but believes it should be enough to guarantee that they have the possibility to have clear access to the purposes of these cookies, which is contrary to the Council opinion. The Council believes the client should receive such information beforehand.
With regards "spamming", that is the sending of unsolicited electronic messages, MEPs restated the position taken by the Parliament at first reading, namely that it should be up to the Member States to decide whether the client should give prior agreement before receiving unsolicited commercial mail ("opt-in") or whether it is sufficient for the client to have the right to request being struck off the mailing list ("opt-out"). In the case of commercial mail sent by fax, SMS or automatic calling systems, on the other hand, the parliamentary committee considers clients' must not receive them without prior consent from the clients.
The second reading of this directive should take place during the EP session in May, in Strasbourg. In order to be adopted at second reading, the amendments must receive a majority of 314 votes in plenary, but, given the slim vote whereby a considerable number of amendments were adopted in committee, the result of the plenary vote remains highly uncertain. In this respect, Rapporteur Mario Cappato (Lista Bonino) had already deplored in a press release published before the vote the fact that the EPP-ED group, speaking through the voice of Spanish MEP Ana Palacio, is aligned to the Council's position, which provides for a reference to data retention, that is, the possibility for Member States to allow service providers retention of data concerning citizens.