On 25 January 2012, the European Commission outlined its
proposals for a radical overhaul of data protection rules in the
European Union. The proposed law will increase compliance
obligations of companies with the possibility of the imposition of
fines of up to 2% of global turnover of the offender.
With these new rules the Commission aims to develop a more
coherent and unified data protection law throughout the EU.
The new data protection law is expected to be enacted by a
regulation, which will supersede the existing Data Protection
Directive (95/46/EC). Unlike directives, regulations do not
require any implementing measures at local member state level.
Hence they become immediately enforceable as law in all member
states simultaneously. According to the draft text, "(the)
direct applicability of a Regulation...will reduce legal
fragmentation and provide greater legal certainty by introducing a
harmonised set of core rules...". In other words,
adopting these
