EDPB Pushes ePrivacy Regulation After GDPR Goes Into Effect

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) yesterday issued a statement calling for the ePrivacy Regulation to replace the current ePrivacy Directive as soon as possible. It offered its advice and guidance on the last round of proposed amendments and urged the “European Commission, Parliament and Council to work together to ensure a swift adoption of the new ePrivacy Regulation …”

The ePrivacy Regulation is a new law under consideration in Europe to protect the confidentiality of electronic communications and update the existing law there. It would work hand in hand with the GDPR to offer EU citizens data protection and privacy.  It is likely to become the next battleground in data privacy legislation. The New York Times ran an article on Sunday about warnings from the tech industry that ePrivacy could chill innovations like driverless cars and cost European businesses more than $600 billion in annual lost revenue.

The EDPB is the new player in data privacy, created by GDPR and succeeding the Article 29 Working Party. It held its first meeting on Friday as the GDPR went into effect. The EDPB is composed of the European Data Protection Supervisor and the Member State supervisory authorities. Its goal is to ensure the protection of the data privacy of individuals and the consistent application of the GDPR throughout the European Union.

The EDPB currently has a staff of 13 people with plans to expand next year to 25 people. If the staffs of the various data protection authorities in Europe are added together, there are about 2,500 people working on the enforcement of data protection and privacy issues in the European Union.

The elected head of the EDPB is Andrea Jelinek, a former Austrian police chief. Jelinek accurately predicted that companies could expect complaints to be filed immediately by citizens against businesses.

A first round of complaints was filed against Google, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp over forced consent. The complaints were filed with France, Belgium, Germany and Austria. The media has reported litigation could ultimately happen in Ireland, where Facebook and Google have their European headquarters. The New York Times two weeks ago called the head of the Ireland data protection authority, Helen Dixon, perhap’s one of tech’s most important regulators in light of the new data privacy rules.

Many countries in the EU still need to adopt regulations to implement the GDPR, so they may not be in a hurry to adopt the new ePrivacy Regulation. Seventeen of 24 European regulators told Reuters earlier in May that they weren’t ready because of insufficient funding or legal powers to enforce the law.

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Other Blog Posts on ePrivacy Regulation:

ePrivacy Regulation Destined for a 2021 Start Date?
EDPB Releases Agenda of Fifth Plenary
Will 2019 Be the Year of GDPR Enforcement & Finalization of the ePrivacy Regulation?
EDPS Urges Adoption of ePrivacy Regulation
Latest on ePrivacy from Austria
EDPS on ePrivacy Regulation
Presidency Proposes Changes to ePrivacy Articles 6, 8 and 10
Significant Progress on ePrivacy Regulation Highlighted by Progress Report
Revised ePrivacy Regulation Draft Circulated