Privacy & Cybersecurity Law Blog

As we previously reported, on October 21, 2013, the European Parliament approved its Compromise Text of the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation (the “Proposed Regulation”). Hunton & Williams has now published an analysis of these proposals.

This latest analysis is the last installment in our series of Executive Briefings on the Proposed Regulation. Since the publication of the Proposed Regulation in January 2012, Hunton & Williams has been tracking developments and analyzing each stage of the legislative process:

• Our initial Executive Briefing Paper examines the European Commission’s proposals, how the proposals would revise the existing EU data protection framework, and how those changes would likely impact organizations in practice.
• In January 2013, following the publication of the draft report on the Proposed Regulation of the European Parliament’s lead rapporteur, we published an update to the Executive Briefing Paper, analyzing the rapporteur’s draft amendments to the European Commission’s proposals.
• In June 2013, we published a second update to the Executive Briefing Paper examining in detail the Irish Presidency’s proposed amendments to the Proposed Regulation; specifically, the Presidency’s proposals regarding consent, legitimate grounds for processing, pseudonymization, data minimization, profiling and the right to be forgotten.
• Our latest analysis, the final update in the series, examines the European Parliament’s Final Compromise Text, adopted on October 21, 2013.

Next up, the Council of Ministers must reach an agreement on the Proposed Regulation, after which a “trilogue” between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission will be established to work on the final text. A vote is expected before the parliamentary elections in May 2014. The coming months are likely to involve a period of intense negotiations, and businesses should remain engaged in the process.

Hunton & Williams is developing additional materials regarding the next steps in the legislative process to offer practical insights to our clients.