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The ePrivacy Regulation (ePR) is a proposal for the regulation of various privacy-related topics, mostly in relation to
electronic communications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
within the European Union. Its full name is "Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the respect for private life and the protection of personal data in electronic communications and repealing Directive 2002/58/EC (Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications)." It would
repeal A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...
the
Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive 2002 Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive 2002/58/EC on Privacy and Electronic Communications, otherwise known as ePrivacy Directive (ePD), is an EU directive on data protection and privacy in the digital age. It presents a continuation o ...
(ePrivacy Directive) and would be
lex specialis ''Lex specialis'', in legal theory and practice, is a doctrine relating to the interpretation of laws and can apply in both domestic and international law contexts. The doctrine states that if two laws govern the same factual situation, a law gover ...
to the
General Data Protection Regulation The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European Union regulation on data protection and privacy in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA). The GDPR is an important component of EU privacy law and of human rights law, in partic ...
. It would particularise and complement the latter in respect of privacy-related topics. Key fields of the proposed regulation are the
confidentiality Confidentiality involves a set of rules or a promise usually executed through confidentiality agreements that limits the access or places restrictions on certain types of information. Legal confidentiality By law, lawyers are often required ...
of communications, privacy controls through electronic consent and browsers, and
cookies A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, nuts ...
. The history of the regulation goes back to January 2017 when the European Commission proposed the ePrivacy Regulation. The intention was that it would sit alongside the EU GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) when it was introduced on 25 May 2018. The scope is still under discussion. According to some proposals, it would apply to any business that processes data in relation to any form of online communication service, uses online tracking technologies, or engages in electronic direct marketing. The proposed penalties for noncompliance would be up to €20 million or, in the case of an undertaking, up to 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher. The ePrivacy Regulation originally was intended to come in effect on 25 May 2018, together with the GDPR, but has still not been adopted.


Difference between Regulation and Directive

The (new) ePrivacy Regulation will repeal the (current) ePrivacy Directive. Contrary to an EU Directive, an
EU Regulation A regulation is a legal act of the European Union that becomes immediately enforceable as law in all Member state of the European Union, member states simultaneously. Regulations can be distinguished from directive (European Union), directives w ...
is a legal act of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
that becomes immediately effective as law in all member states simultaneously. The current ePrivacy Directive is a legal act of the European Union that requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. It has therefore been implemented into national laws and regulations. If the proposed ePrivacy Regulation became effective, these laws would be superseded and will (for reasons of clarity) likely be repealed. The ePrivacy Regulation would be self-executing and not require many implementing measures.


Key points of Commission's proposal

According to the EU Commission, the proposal includes the following key changes: * New players: Privacy rules will also apply to new players providing electronic communications services such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Skype. That will ensure that the popular services guarantee the same level of confidentiality of communications as traditional telecoms operators. * Stronger rules: All people and businesses in the EU will enjoy the same level of protection of their electronic communications through this directly applicable regulation. Businesses will also benefit from one single set of rules across the EU. * Communications content and metadata: Privacy is guaranteed for communications like the time and the location of a call. Metadata have a high privacy component and must be anonymised or deleted if users did not give their consent unless the data is needed for billing. * New business opportunities: Once consent is given for communications data (content and/or metadata) to be processed, traditional telecoms operators will have more opportunities to provide additional services and to develop their businesses. For example, they could produce heat maps indicating the presence of individuals, which could help public authorities and transport companies when developing new infrastructure projects. * Simpler rules on cookies: The cookie provision, which has resulted in an overload of consent requests for internet users, will be streamlined. The new rule will be more user-friendly, as browser settings will provide for an easy way to accept or refuse tracking cookies and other identifiers. The proposal also clarifies that no consent is needed for non-privacy-intrusive cookies improving internet experience (like to remember shopping cart history) or cookies used by a website to count the number of visitors. * Protection against spam: The proposal bans unsolicited electronic communications by emails, SMS, and automated calling machines. Depending on national law, people will either be protected by default or be able to use a do-not-call list to avoid receiving marketing phone calls. Marketing callers will need to display their phone number or use a special pre-fix that indicates a marketing call. * More effective enforcement: The enforcement of the confidentiality rules in the regulation will be the responsibility of data protection authorities, already in charge of the rules under the General Data Protection Regulation.


Reception

In February 2021 the German
Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI, german: Bundesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit), referring to either a person or the agency they lead, is tasked with supervising data ...
saw multiple red lines being crossed.
Data retention Data retention defines the policies of persistent data and records management for meeting legal and business data archival requirements. Although sometimes interchangeable, it is not to be confused with the Data Protection Act 1998. The differen ...
had again become part of the proposal, despite the fact that it had been ruled unlawful by many courts. The regulations concerning the Internet constituted a step back in that cookie walls would be again allowed. Important consumer rights such as the "right to object" and "data protection impact assessment" would be voided. Personal data could be processed for purposes different from the original ones without the person's consent. The "pay-or-allow-to-be-tracked" question to access a website would henceforth be permitted. The directive of 2001 required in its art 15(1) that data might be retained for an important public interest. The proposal now in 17a does not have such a reference to the public interest any more. In March 2021, France was reported to be leading an effort to modify the ePrivacy initiative to exempt national security agencies from some provisions. On July 6th, 2021, the European Parliament approved a derogation to the ePrivacy regulation that enables providers of electronic communication services to scan and report private online messages containing material depicting child sex abuse, and allow companies to apply approved technologies to detect grooming techniques.


References


External links


The proposed Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications on europa.eu

Procedure File: 2017/0003(COD) , Legislative Observatory , European Parliament
{{DEFAULTSORT:Directive On Privacy And Electronic Communications Draft European Union laws Email Information privacy Information technology organizations based in Europe Privacy legislation Spamming