About the e-Privacy Regulation (proposal)

Full name: Proposal for a 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)

 

Type: Regulation

 

Objective and key elements:

• Updating the current ePrivacy legislation (mainly legislation related to the current e-Privacy Directive) to align with the rules set out in the GDPR and being better adapted to the digital evolvement of services.
• Protect the privacy of online users by standardizing the privacy controls of electronic communications service providers who gather and manage data of online users residing in the EU
• Protect users against unsolicited electronic correspondence by new-age electronic communication corporations
• Lex specialis to the GDPR; particularising and complementing it with respect to electronic communications data that qualifies as personal data

 

Relevant to: Providers of electronic communications services, website and app operators and other companies (in particular related to direct marketing)

 

Status: Proposal. It is in our assessment not very likely that this version will ever be finalised. It is more likely that the EU will start over with a new proposal (and some areas aimed to be regulated under the e-Privacy Regulation proposal has already been absorbed by other digital compliance legislation).

 

Next steps:

• Trilogues ongoing (since May 2021)
• Commission’s first proposal in January of 2017, link
• Council has (materially) revised several times

(Last updated 7 August 2024)