Liikanen welcomes EP vote on data protection directive
Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen has welcomed a vote by the European Parliament on 30 May to accept a directive on data protection rules for the electronic communications sector. The Parliament voted to accept a compromise on the proposed directive for the protection of personal data and privacy in the e-communications sector. The compromise was negotiated between the Spanish Presidency, the European Commission and the European Parliament during the past month. Now that the directive has been agreed by the Parliament, it will be formally adopted within a few months and will be applied by the end of 2003. Commissioner Liikanen said: 'I welcome today's vote by the European Parliament. We have now concluded the whole telecom package. This will provide great added value for European citizens and for the development of the information society.' The adoption of the directive will mean: - the EU will set a worldwide precedent by adopting a harmonised opt-in approach to unsolicited commercial e-mail. The opt-in will also cover SMS and other electronic messages; - citizens will have the right to determine whether their phone numbers for mobile or fixed lines and their e-mail and house addresses figure in public directories; - the use of privacy-sensitive location data indicating the exact whereabouts of mobile users will be subject to explicit consent by the user; - invisible tracking devices such as cookies that can collect information on Internet users may only be used if the user is provided with adequate information on the purpose of the device. The user will be given the opportunity to reject such devices. The debate about the retention of traffic data for law enforcement purposes was settled with a new compromise text that strengthens the human rights safeguards that must accompany national measures. The directive does not, however, contain any legally-binding provisions that would either allow or prevent such measures, as these are not within the scope of the directive, the Commission says.