European Regulation on Protection of Personal Data : Finally Adopted in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted on 14 April 2016 the new European Regulation on data protection. It will be applicable in 2018 in all Member States of the European Union.

This adoption is the outcome of four years of work and intense negotiations and a turning point in the regulation of personal data.

The regulation strengthens the rights of European citizens and gives them more control over their personal data. It simplifies the formalities for companies and offer them a unified legal framework.

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Key points of this reform are :

• Strengthening existing rights, including allowing citizens to have more information on the processing of data but also to get them in a clear, accessible and understandable form.
• A new right, the right to portability, making more effective the control of its data by a person.
• Simplification of procedures, the possibility of a single contact for all European data protection authorities and a provision of a box compliance tools.
• Strengthening their powers, including law enforcement with the ability to impose administrative penalties of up to 4% of the worldwide turnover of the company concerned.
• Creating a new European body, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), being responsible for arbitrating disputes between the authorities.

This adoption also means the beginning of a countdown that will last two years, until the effective implementation of the Regulation in 2018.

The G29, which brings together the European CNIL is already in running order to assist companies in preparing to be ready in 2018. It is also working on the development of the next European Data Protection Board which will take