Proposed Changes To The EU Data Protection Regime: What You Need To Know

On 25 January 2012, the Vice President of the European Commission, Viviane Reding, unveiled far reaching proposals for re-writing the EU's 17 year old data protection directive, Directive 95/46/EC. The European Commission had previously declared its intention to reform the existing data protection framework back in April 2010. The proposal is intended to modernise the EU's data protection rules by taking into account technological advances and ensuring a more uniform application of data protection rules across all 27 Member States. In doing so, it will impose additional compliance obligations on organisations.

In place of the existing Directive the European Commission has proposed a new regulation ("Regulation") setting out a general EU framework for data protection. The Regulation would create new rights for individuals and impose new compliance obligations on organisations with potential fines of up to 2% of annual global turnover for non-compliance. As