EU Justice Ministers find common ground on DP draft Regulation

In a press conference on 7 October, EU Commissioner, Viviane Reding, declared that she is very happy about the progress made at the European Union’s Justice Council meeting. “Today the text [draft Data Protection Regulation] received very strong endorsement; this is also political endorsement and now our technicians can work on the detail to produce the final text for December,” Reding said.

The Justice Ministers had agreed on the one-stop shop principle. Businesses established and operating in several Member States will have to deal with only a single national data protection authority, in the country where they have their main establishment. Reding stressed that they can now take this message to the European Council, where EU Member States’ Prime Ministers are due to meet on 24 October.

The different EU bodies will start co-decision talks after the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers have agreed on their positions. The European Parliament is now expected to organise its orientation vote on the draft in mid-October.

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