Press Release: ePrivacy Directive close to enactment: improvements on security breach, cookies and enforcement, and more to come

Following the agreement on the EU telecoms reform on 5 November 2009, nothing stands in the way for the ePrivacy Directive to enter into force. The formalities required for formal adoption will be undertaken in the coming weeks. The revised ePrivacy Directive, as amended by the European Parliament and adopted by the Council must be implemented by the Member States within 18 months.

The new provisions will bring vital improvements in the protection of the privacy and personal data of all Europeans active in the online environment. The improvements relate to security breaches, spyware, cookies, spam, and enforcement of rules. The EDPS cooperated closely with the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission on the legislative work leading to the final text.

• Primary Source

Wall Street Journal Europe, 25.11.10: EU chews on web cookies (via PressEurop) http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/404121-eu-chews-web-cookies

EURLEX: Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32002L0058:EN:HTML

Wikipedia: Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directive_on_Privacy_and_Electronic_Communications

---