EU Council still debating e-Privacy Regulation

It looks like adoption of the e-Privacy Regulation is still some time away as the three party Trilogue negotiations between the European Parliament, Commission and the Council have not yet started due to the Council’s inability to reach a common position. According to the Council’s note of 20 May to the delegations, some Member States have repeatedly underlined concerns about the way the e-Privacy proposal would interact with new technologies, in particular in the context of Machine-to-Machine, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence. The Presidency has now introduced numerous clarifications in the respective recitals, in particular 13, 20a and 21, addressing situations of multiple end-users and the question of consent.

There have also been discussions on data retention and supervisory authorities with the aim of providing more flexibility for Member States, while respecting the requirements for independence. The Romanian Presidency says it has also introduced simplifications and clarifications with regard to cross-border cooperation (article 20) and the role and involvement of the European Data Protection Board (article 19).

The EU Telecoms Ministers will meet on 7 June 2019, and the EU Council Presidency will move from Romania to Finland on 1 July 2019.

PL&B’s 32nd Annual International Conference has a session on ‘Navigating e-Privacy requirements: New ways to tackle consent, cookies and other marketing challenges’. Speakers: Rafi Azim-Khan, Pillsbury, UK and Ian Evans, OneTrust, UK.