Tag: European Parliament

Measures to strengthen the EU cybersecurity published

27. September 2017

On September 13, 2017 a joint communication to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on “Resilience, Deterrence and Defence: Building strong cybersecurity for the EU” was published. This should strengthen the EU regarding the response of cyber attacks.

The joint communication includes:

  • Greater EU resilience to cyber attacks
  • Better detect cyber attacks
  • Strengthen international cooperation on cybersecurity

and is part of a package of EU documents.

EU: Data sharing with USA in terms of security and terrorism

29. November 2016

This week, Reuters reported that the European Parliament lawmakers supported a data-sharing agreement with the USA, which aims at safeguarding the data exchange between national authorities, in order to improve security and simplify investigations in terms of terrorism.

Basically, the agreement supports personal data such as names, addresses and criminal records in case an exchange by law enforcement agencies in both Europe and the USA takes place.

Axel Voss explained that “EU citizens will have the same rights as U.S. citizens when they seek judicial redress before U.S. courts. This is a major step for the enforcement of fundamental rights for EU citizens.”

What triggered the implementation of such an agreement?

After the mass spying in 2013 by the USA, which caused privacy concerns over the question “What do enforcement agencies with the gained data after colleting it?” the need to find a regulation concerning the gathering, sharing and storing of personal data became more important than ever.

What is the following process?

It is expected that the entire Parliament approves this agreement on the 1st of Dezember 2016. From then on, the respective ministers for justice and home affairs of the 28 European Member States have to sign off the agreement in the coming weeks.

Parliament finally approves of GDPR

15. April 2016

The European Union will have a new data protection regulation. After four years of ups and downs, the European Parliament came to an agreement on thursday in a plenary vote of support for the GDPR and the companion Data Protection Directive for policing and the judiciary.

The German MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht commented that “the General Data Protection Regulation makes a high, uniform level of data protection throughout the EU a reality,” and added that, “the regulation will also create clarity for businesses by establishing a single law across the EU. The new law creates confidence, legal certainty, and fairer competition.”

In order to give businesses and organizations time to adjust their compliance and data protection issues, the new GDPR will officially become effective in two years. The GDPR includes provisions such as the impositions of a clear and affirmative consent for processing personal data and a clear privacy notice. Further, there will be obligations concerning the breach of notification and the implementation of potential fines up to 4 percent of a company’s global annual turnover.

European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip, and Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Vera Jourova welcomed the new regulation as it will “help stimulate the Digital Single Market in the EU by fostering trust in online services by consumers and legal certainty for businesses based on clear and uniform rules.” They went on commenting the Data Protection Directive for police and the judiciary, saying that it “ensures a high level of data protection while improving cooperation in the fight against terrorism and other serious crime across Europe.”

Therefore, in order to build public awareness of the reforms “the EU will launch public awareness-raising campaigns about the new data protection rules” Albrecht and Jourova, along with MEP Marju Lauristin commented and added that “the European Commission will work closely with member states, the national data protection authorities, and stakeholders to ensure the rules will be applied uniformly across the EU.”

European Council accelerates the process for adopting the GDPR

7. April 2016

The Council of the European Union announced that the process for adopting the GDPR will be accelerated. This is due to the the fact that the General Secretariat of the Council sent a Note requesting the Permanent Representatives Committee to use the so called “written procedure” in order to adopt the Council’s position. Initially a vote on the Council’s position was planned on 21st April 2016, when the next Justice and Home Affairs Council takes place. However, the Council has decided to accelerate the process for adoption by using the “written procedure”. Proceding this way is an exemption as it does not include public deliberation.

The mentioned Note states that the “need to send the Council’s position at first reading to the European Parliament during its April I plenary, will only be possible to adopt the Council’s position at first reading within this very short deadline via the written procedure, which would be launched on Thursday 7th April 2016 and would end on Friday 8th April 2016, at midday. Delegations’ attention is drawn to the exceptionally short duration of this written procedure.”

When looking on the next steps it is to say that once the Council’s position is adopted,  it will then be sent to the European Parliament. The European Parliament will go on by acknowledging the receipt during the next plenary session taking place on 11-13 April 2016. Afterwards, the Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee will vote on a recommendation to Parliament regarding the Council’s position. These recommendation will then be used as a foundation for the Parliament’s adoption of the GDPR in one of the following plenary meetings.