Privacy & Cybersecurity Law Blog

On May 6, 2013, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (“LIBE”) discussed the progress of the proposed General Data Protection Regulation (”Proposed Regulation”). LIBE’s lead rapporteur, Jan Philipp Albrecht, noted that, in light of the significant number of amendments tabled, more time is needed for the other rapporteurs to deliberate. As a result, the vote originally scheduled for May 29, 2013 on the lead rapporteur’s report regarding amendments to the Proposed Regulation has been postponed.

The lead rapporteur noted that the goal is to hold the vote before the summer break in order to continue with negotiations in the fall. Meanwhile, the Irish Presidency confirmed that it is focused on the Proposed Regulation and that extensive negotiations are underway. The European Council will meet on June 6, 2013, to consider the areas in which EU Member States may have reached consensus.

Other topics discussed during the LIBE Committee’s meeting included:

• the scope of the Proposed Regulation with respect to the public sector;
• data portability and the right to be forgotten;
• the meaning of anonymized and pseudonymized personal data; and
• the 2011 Voss Report on the effectiveness of the current European Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC.