e-Privacy Reform

e-Privacy
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On 10 January 2017 the Commission has presented a proposal for a Regulation concerning the respect for private life and the protection of personal data in electronic communications and repealing Directive 2002/58/EC) (ePrivacy Regulation).

The ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/EC) set forth rules guaranteeing the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector. It aimed to ensure that the protection of confidentiality of communications, in line with the fundamental right to the respect of private and family life enshrined in Article 7 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, is guaranteed.
The proposed ePrivacy Regulation takes account of the important technological and economic developments in the electronic communication sector since the adoption of the ePrivacy Directive in 2002, where new services of interpersonal communications coexist in parallel with traditional communication services and presenting a similar impact on the privacy and the protection of personal data of individuals. These new services were not submitted to the protections of private life and data processing set out in Directive 2002/58 resulting therefore in a void of protection.