On 12 March 2014, the European Parliament (the "Parliament") overwhelmingly voted in favour of the European Commission’s proposal for a Data Protection Regulation (the "Data Protection Regulation") in
On 12 March 2014, the European Parliament (the "Parliament") overwhelmingly voted in favour of the European Commission’s proposal for a Data Protection Regulation (the "Data Protection Regulation") in its plenary assembly. In total 621 members of Parliament voted for the proposals and only 10 against. The vote cemented the Parliament’s support of the data protection reform, which constitutes an important step forward in the legislative procedure. Following the vote, Viviane Reding – the EU Justice Commissioner – said that “The message the European Parliament is sending is unequivocal: This reform is a necessity, and now it is irreversible”. While this vote is an important milestone in the adoption process, there are still several steps to go before the text is adopted and comes into force.
So what happens next?
Following the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee’s report published in October 2013 (for more information on this report – see this previous article), this month’s vote means that the Council of the European Union (the "Council") can now formally conduct its reading of the text based on the Parliament's amendments. Since the EU Commission made its proposal, preparatory work in the Council has been running in parallel with the Parliament. However, the Council can only adopt its position after the Parliament has acted.
In order for the proposed Data Protection Regulation to become law, both the Parliament and the Council must adopt the text in what is called the "ordinary legislative procedure" – a process in which the decisions of the Parliament and the Council have the same weight. The Parliament can only begin official negotiations with the Council as soon as the Council presents its position. It seems unlikely that the Council will accept the Parliament's position and, on the contrary, will want to put forward its own amendments.
In the meantime, representatives of the Parliament, the Council and the Commission will probably organise informal meetings, the so-called "trilogue" meetings, with a view to reaching a first reading agreement.
The EU Justice Ministers have already met several times in Council meetings in the past months to discuss the data protection reform. Although there seems to be a large support between Member States for the proposal, they haven't yet reached an agreement over some of the key provisions, such as the "one-stop shop" rule. The next meeting of the Council ministers is due to take place in June 2014.
Will there be further delays?
As the Council has not yet agreed its position, the speed of the development of the proposed regulation in the coming months largely depends on this being finalised. Once a position has been reached by the Council then there is also the possibility that the proposals could be amended further. If this happens, the Parliament may need to vote again until the process is complete.
Furthermore, with the elections in the EU Parliament coming up this May, this means that the whole adoption process will be put on hold until a new Parliament comes into place and a new Commission is approved in the autumn this year. Given these important political changes, it is difficult to predict when the Data Protection Regulation will be finally adopted.
It is worth noting, however, that the European heads of state and government publicly committed themselves to the ‘timely’ adoption of the data protection legislation by 2015 – though, with the slow progress made to date and work still remaining to be done, this looks a very tall order indeed.
So what happens next?
Following the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee’s report published in October 2013 (for more information on this report – see this previous article), this month’s vote means that the Council of the European Union (the "Council") can now formally conduct its reading of the text based on the Parliament's amendments. Since the EU Commission made its proposal, preparatory work in the Council has been running in parallel with the Parliament. However, the Council can only adopt its position after the Parliament has acted.
In order for the proposed Data Protection Regulation to become law, both the Parliament and the Council must adopt the text in what is called the "ordinary legislative procedure" – a process in which the decisions of the Parliament and the Council have the same weight. The Parliament can only begin official negotiations with the Council as soon as the Council presents its position. It seems unlikely that the Council will accept the Parliament's position and, on the contrary, will want to put forward its own amendments.
In the meantime, representatives of the Parliament, the Council and the Commission will probably organise informal meetings, the so-called "trilogue" meetings, with a view to reaching a first reading agreement.
The EU Justice Ministers have already met several times in Council meetings in the past months to discuss the data protection reform. Although there seems to be a large support between Member States for the proposal, they haven't yet reached an agreement over some of the key provisions, such as the "one-stop shop" rule. The next meeting of the Council ministers is due to take place in June 2014.
Will there be further delays?
As the Council has not yet agreed its position, the speed of the development of the proposed regulation in the coming months largely depends on this being finalised. Once a position has been reached by the Council then there is also the possibility that the proposals could be amended further. If this happens, the Parliament may need to vote again until the process is complete.
Furthermore, with the elections in the EU Parliament coming up this May, this means that the whole adoption process will be put on hold until a new Parliament comes into place and a new Commission is approved in the autumn this year. Given these important political changes, it is difficult to predict when the Data Protection Regulation will be finally adopted.
It is worth noting, however, that the European heads of state and government publicly committed themselves to the ‘timely’ adoption of the data protection legislation by 2015 – though, with the slow progress made to date and work still remaining to be done, this looks a very tall order indeed.