EU eyes big fines for privacy breaches

Article previews draft European Commission legislative proposal to revise the 1995 data protection directive to be launched in January 2012. The writer says that businesses breaching the new proposed privacy rules would face fines of up to 5% of their global turnover.

Also report of a speech by Justice Commission Reding 'Building trust in the Digital Single Market: Reforming the EU’s data protection rules' at a conference, Brussels, 28 November 2011.

European Commission: DG Justice: Policies: Data protection http://ec.europa.eu/justice/policies/privacy/index_en.htm

European Commission: DG Justice: Data protection: Protection of personal data http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/index_en.htm

EurActiv, 5.12.11: Internet firms warn about EU's data privacy proposals http://www.euractiv.com/specialreport-innovation-digital-economy/data-protection-reding-proposal-freeze-digital-growth-news-

European Commission: RAPID: SPEECH/11/814: Building trust in the Digital Single Market: Reforming the EU’s data protection rules http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/reding/pdf/speeches/data-protection_en.pdf

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