Wednesday, November 30, 2011

A Proposal for E.U.-Wide Data Protection Regulation

"PARIS — A top lawmaker on Tuesday proposed harmonizing European Union privacy rules so that an Internet company could operate across the 27-country bloc as long as its data protection policies had been approved by a single member state.

"Viviane Reding, vice president of the European Commission, said unnecessary hurdles created by privacy rules that date to 1995, when the Internet was in its infancy, were costing companies €2.3 billion, or $3.1 billion, a year as regulators in 27 different nations applied their own rules.

"Ms. Reding acknowledged the apparent incongruity of discussing the harmonization of E.U. rules at a time of extreme discord within the bloc over economic policy, with debt woes straining the ties that bind together the euro zone. But she said an overhaul of the privacy regulations was crucial to increasing the competitiveness of the European economy to help it surmount the crisis."

NY Times

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