Data Protection Directive replaced by European General Data Protection Regulation
The Data Protection Directive, officially Directive 95/46/EC, enacted in October 1995, is a European Union directive which regulates the processing of personal data within the European Union (EU) and the free movement of such data. The Data Protection Directive is an important component of EU privacy and human rights law.
The principles set out in the Data Protection Directive are aimed at the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms in the processing of personal data. The General Data Protection Regulation, adopted in April 2016, superseded the Data Protection Directive and became enforceable on 25 May 2018.Replacement by the General Data Protection Regulation
On 25 January 2012, the European Commission (EC) announced it would be unifying data protection law across a unified European Union via legislation called the "General Data Protection Regulation." The EC's objectives with this legislation included:
the harmonisation of 27 national data protection regulations into one unified regulation;
the improvement of corporate data transfer rules outside the European Union; and
the improvement of user control over personal identifying data.The original proposal also dictated that the legislation would in theory "apply for all non-EU companies without any establishment in the EU, provided that the processing of data is directed at EU residents," one of the biggest changes with the new legislation. This change carried on through to the legislation's final approval on 14 April 2016, affecting entities around the world. "The Regulation applies to processing outside the EU that relates to the offering of goods or services to data subjects (individuals) in the EU or the monitoring of their behavior," according to W. Scott Blackmer of the InfoLawGroup, though he added "[i]t is questionable whether European supervisory authorities or consumers would actually try to sue US-based operators over violations of the Regulation." Additional changes include stricter conditions for consent, broader definition of sensitive data, new provisions on protecting children's privacy, and the inclusion of "rights to be forgotten."The EC then set a compliance date of 25 May 2018, giving businesses around the world a chance to prepare for compliance, review data protection language in contracts, consider transition to international standards, update privacy policies, and review marketing plans.
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