e-Privacy Regulation: Council of the European Union adopts new negotiating mandate

These terms of reference, adopted on February 10, 2021, will serve as a basis for revising the rules on the protection of privacy and confidentiality in the use of electronic communication services.

On January 10, 2017, the European Commission published a proposal for a new regulation, known as “e-Privacy”, which aims to clarify and complete, or rather specify, the GDPR.

Indeed, the proposal for the e-Privacy Regulation is presented as a lex specialis of the GDPR. This means that it complements the latter with specific rules specific to the electronic communications sector. The e-Privacy Regulation also replaces the GDPR in all the specific areas it covers, since it has, by its lex specialis status, a kind of priority over the lex generalis. As an example, the Regulation also covers legal persons, hitherto excluded from the scope of application of the E-Privacy Regulation.

This regulation, which was to enter into force on the same day as the GDPR is the subject of considerable disagreement between member states. Its final version will replace Directive 2002/58/EC of 12 July 2002 on the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector, although it takes up several points.

After three years of waiting, it would seem that the final adoption of the e-Privacy Regulation is close at hand. However, its entry into force will have to wait, since a one-year transitional period is foreseen.

UGGC Law firm and its team of lawyers specialized in IT is at your disposal for any questions you may have on this subject.

By  the IP/IT team of the UGGC Law firm.

Source : https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-6087-2021-INIT/en/pdf