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Brussels. the European Union on Thursday approved new rules on data protection to strengthen online privacy, simplify legislation in the 28 member states and promote police and security cooperation.
the rules will create for the first time a solid law of data protection for the 500 million EU citizens, replacing an outdated network of national standards only considered small fines for violations.
there will be a “right to be forgotten “, which means consumers may request that information not essential is removed by web search engines, like those of Google.
the rules also dictate that individuals must give” clear and affirmative consent ” before private information is processed by companies or governments. This point became important after two years, reports surfaced extensive espionage US government of European data such as phone calls and emails.
The new rules also allow for greater efficiency in the transfer of information law enforcement objectives, which will help to improve security after the attacks of 13 November in Paris, where 130 people died, and suicide attacks last month in Brussels, which left 32 dead.
the privacy has become a hot topic among pressure companies to obtain customer information, as well as the need for security services have information about suspects involved in extremist attacks.
President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, said that “the security of European citizens must never be guaranteed at the expense of their rights and freedoms.”
But described the new rules as “crucial steps” in the digital age when the customer privacy is under greater threat than ever.
Commercially there are also a lot at stake and chief negotiator Parliament, Jan Philipp Albrecht, said companies that violate data protection EU they should be fined with up to 4% of their annual profits, which could reach billions of dollars.
After four years of strong political battles between industry and privacy groups, the rules must be official in a period of two years.
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