European Commission denies watering down data protection laws - ellisardeculd

The European Commission happening Thursday strenuously denied tearing down its proposals for data protection laws A a result of United States lobbying.

The Commission's justice spokeswoman, Mina Andreeva, called the allegations, which appeared in the Financial Times, "a strange floor with strange timing."

"We are surprised by the identical one-sided write u of events that took grade in the run raised to the presentation of the Data Protection Regulation. Spell it is no secret that there was immense lobbying on this issue, including from the U.S. authorities, the Commission stood firm," she said.

The reaction from lobbyists since the presentation of the projected police in Jan 2012 shows that they did non "get what they wanted," she added.

The FT article cites three "senior E.U. officials" locution that measures that would possess limited U.S. intelligence agencies' ability to undercover agent on European citizens were dropped by the Commission following a successful U.S. lobby campaign.

However, Andreeva spindle-shaped out that in the draft copy text, which is stock-still being debated by the European Parliament, a surgical incision on geographical scope "makes it absolutely clear that U.S. companies would have to stay aside European rules whenever they offer their goods and services to European citizens." The draft text edition also says that requests to memory access E.U. citizens' data from third country constabulary authorities should go direct existing licit frameworks.

The new Information Protection Regularization would revise the EC's data protection rules, which go back 1995. But discussions in the Parliament have stalled. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), who are directly elective by citizens in member states, have put forward more 3,000 amendments to the text.

Civil liberties activists have accused MEPs of caving in to pressure from of import business, specially from the U.S. and bu "cutting and pasting" from lobbyists' documents.

Some MEPs themselves have unambiguous alarm at the level of lobbying. "I've never seen anything quite ilk it," aforementioned Plagiarist Party MEP Christian Engstrom.

Many parliamentarians were also angered by the United States advisement in with its opinion before a final ballot had been assumed.

A document published in February by the U.S. Mission to the E.U. claimed that the planned new regulation could "stifle instauratio and inhibit development" and urged the E.U. "to look more towards outcomes that provide pregnant auspices for privacy and focus less on formalistic requirements."

And although some MEPs do not wish to counteract Europe's biggest ally, wrath ended the Prism information-gathering scandal could lead them to advertise for stricter data protection rules for E.U. citizens. "At least we can hope that some good will come out of this entirely affair," aforesaid Engstrom.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/452405/european-commission-denies-watering-down-data-protection-laws.html

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