In the week that the UK Parliament voted for a real-terms cut in the EU's future budget, it's no particular surprise to hear criticism from UK Parliamentarians levelled at EU institutions. On Thursday
In the week that the UK Parliament voted for a real-terms cut in the EU's future budget, it's no particular surprise to hear criticism from UK Parliamentarians levelled at EU institutions. On Thursday this week, the House of Commons Justice Committee produced its opinion on the European Commission's legislative proposals for reform of EU data protection law. Whilst accepting that reform of data protection law is necessary, the opinion urges the Commission to 'go back to the drawing board and devise a regime which is much less prescriptive'. The opinion strongly calls upon the Commission to re-think a number of issues including the division of the proposals into a Regulation and Directive, the drive towards harmonisation at the expense of flexibility, the need for a proper impact assessment, the right to be forgotten and the power of data protection authorities to issue sanctions. The Justice Committee heard evidence from the Ministry of Justice (in charge of negotiating the UK's position on the proposals), the Information Commissioner's Office, the EU Commission as well as representatives of UK small businesses, the police, privacy and consumer lobbyists and global businesses.
Regulation and Directive
While the MoJ and ICO remained resistant to splitting the proposals for reform between a Regulation (for most data processing) and a Directive (for data processing for law enforcement and judicial co-operation), the Commission argued that this split was deliberate to give Member States flexibility to take their particular culture and type of legislation into consideration. So, in the case of the UK, the Commission considered this accommodated the UK's reliance on common law. However, a number of witnesses considered that the protection afforded by the draft Directive was less than the protection provided by the draft Regulation so potentially not protecting the rights of individuals.
Principles rather than prescription?
There was considerable opposition to the prescriptive elements in the Regulation and the ICO, amongst others, encouraged an outcome focused approach based on principles. On the other hand, privacy and consumer lobbyists welcomed the administrative requirements on controllers which they considered helped to secure the rights of individuals.
Good for business?
It was accepted that simple, harmonised rules would greatly help small businesses seeking to expand across the EU as well as global businesses. However, the more prescriptive the rules the harder it would be for businesses to comply (particularly small businesses). The MoJ saw a real threat to business if the Regulation placed extra burdens on businesses and stated that it would influence negotiations to ensure a proportionate, flexible approach that does not impede entrepreneurship. The recent announcement from the EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding that she does not wish to see small businesses overburdened by the Regulation should provide some relief for businesses overawed by the compliance requirements of the Regulation.
Good for the ICO?
Representatives from the ICO stated bluntly that they would not be able to resource their new role under the Regulation. Additionally, the MoJ made it clear that the 'wish list of extra responsibilities and tasks' for the ICO under the Regulation was 'genuinely wishful thinking'. Likewise, the ICO objected to having its hands tied by the Regulation when it came to identifying and dealing with compliance failures and wanted regulators to have more discretion to apply their own judgement and experience.
The European Commission
In the Commission's view enhanced harmonisation would make global processing of personal data simpler and cheaper and thus lead to increased business for the EU. However, this picture of harmonisation downplays the efforts that organisations will have to go to in order to strive for this end. The MoJ and others sharply criticised the impact assessment that the Commission provided as inadequate and the Justice Committee called for a full assessment of the impact of the proposals.
The Commission also argued that they had sought to technology-proof the Regulation by leaving flexibility in the form of delegated Acts for the Commission to implement later. However, there was significant criticism from witnesses on the extent and scope of provisions for delegated Acts which potentially gave power to the Commission to prescribe technical formats, standards and solutions. There appears to be some scope for movement on this point given Viviane Reding's recent announcement that she was willing to review the delegated Acts individually and to limit them to only what is truly necessary for future technological developments.
The right to be forgotten
Comments from the ICO provided insight into this controversial concept as Christopher Graham indicated (to his surprise) that Viviane Reding had told him that the right to be forgotten was 'more of a political slogan' which actually represented something that already existed. So amidst all the excitement and debate that the trumpeting of the right to be forgotten had stirred up, there was now a suggestion that it wasn't really a big deal after all. The MoJ strongly emphasised that it would resist the implementation of the right to be forgotten since it would raise unrealistic expectations that will prove impossible to fulfil. More cautiously, the Justice Committee recognised the importance of an individual's right to delete their data but recommended that the phrase 'right to be forgotten' should be avoided since it was misleading. Since the right to be forgotten is inextricably linked in most people's minds with social media, it was significant that the MoJ considered that parts of the Regulation appeared to be overly-concerned with social media (an anxiety that has perhaps infected the tenor of the drafting).
Subject access rights
Although there were objections from the Federation of Small Businesses to the abolition of the £10 fee for access to personal data and the MoJ was clearly sympathetic to these concerns, the Justice Committee (along with privacy and consumer lobbyists) supported the Commission's position that the right of access should be free. The MoJ was urged to change its negotiating position on this point.
Justice Committee's conclusions
In the Committee's view, the draft Regulation does not produce a proportionate, practicable, affordable or effective system of data protection. Therefore the Committee lay out a stark choice for the Commission: either pursue harmonisation under a Regulation by focusing on the elements essential to harmonise and deploy the consistency mechanism and the European Data Protection Board to achieve this, or use a Directive to set out the outcomes to be achieved and leave implementation down to Member States, thus forgoing an element of harmonisation and consistency. With respect to the new draft Directive on processing personal data for law enforcement and judicial co-operation purposes, the Committee queried whether there is a pressing need to amend EU law in this area.
What next?
The Justice Committee was asked by the European Scrutiny Committee to provide an opinion on the new data protection framework proposals. Although it has delivered its opinion, the opinion contains a number of outstanding actions on the MoJ to clarify its view or provide responses to the Committee on certain aspects of the new data protection framework. This may well inform the MoJ's position as it continues to negotiate at European level on the shape of the data protection framework proposals.
Regulation and Directive
While the MoJ and ICO remained resistant to splitting the proposals for reform between a Regulation (for most data processing) and a Directive (for data processing for law enforcement and judicial co-operation), the Commission argued that this split was deliberate to give Member States flexibility to take their particular culture and type of legislation into consideration. So, in the case of the UK, the Commission considered this accommodated the UK's reliance on common law. However, a number of witnesses considered that the protection afforded by the draft Directive was less than the protection provided by the draft Regulation so potentially not protecting the rights of individuals.
Principles rather than prescription?
There was considerable opposition to the prescriptive elements in the Regulation and the ICO, amongst others, encouraged an outcome focused approach based on principles. On the other hand, privacy and consumer lobbyists welcomed the administrative requirements on controllers which they considered helped to secure the rights of individuals.
Good for business?
It was accepted that simple, harmonised rules would greatly help small businesses seeking to expand across the EU as well as global businesses. However, the more prescriptive the rules the harder it would be for businesses to comply (particularly small businesses). The MoJ saw a real threat to business if the Regulation placed extra burdens on businesses and stated that it would influence negotiations to ensure a proportionate, flexible approach that does not impede entrepreneurship. The recent announcement from the EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding that she does not wish to see small businesses overburdened by the Regulation should provide some relief for businesses overawed by the compliance requirements of the Regulation.
Good for the ICO?
Representatives from the ICO stated bluntly that they would not be able to resource their new role under the Regulation. Additionally, the MoJ made it clear that the 'wish list of extra responsibilities and tasks' for the ICO under the Regulation was 'genuinely wishful thinking'. Likewise, the ICO objected to having its hands tied by the Regulation when it came to identifying and dealing with compliance failures and wanted regulators to have more discretion to apply their own judgement and experience.
The European Commission
In the Commission's view enhanced harmonisation would make global processing of personal data simpler and cheaper and thus lead to increased business for the EU. However, this picture of harmonisation downplays the efforts that organisations will have to go to in order to strive for this end. The MoJ and others sharply criticised the impact assessment that the Commission provided as inadequate and the Justice Committee called for a full assessment of the impact of the proposals.
The Commission also argued that they had sought to technology-proof the Regulation by leaving flexibility in the form of delegated Acts for the Commission to implement later. However, there was significant criticism from witnesses on the extent and scope of provisions for delegated Acts which potentially gave power to the Commission to prescribe technical formats, standards and solutions. There appears to be some scope for movement on this point given Viviane Reding's recent announcement that she was willing to review the delegated Acts individually and to limit them to only what is truly necessary for future technological developments.
The right to be forgotten
Comments from the ICO provided insight into this controversial concept as Christopher Graham indicated (to his surprise) that Viviane Reding had told him that the right to be forgotten was 'more of a political slogan' which actually represented something that already existed. So amidst all the excitement and debate that the trumpeting of the right to be forgotten had stirred up, there was now a suggestion that it wasn't really a big deal after all. The MoJ strongly emphasised that it would resist the implementation of the right to be forgotten since it would raise unrealistic expectations that will prove impossible to fulfil. More cautiously, the Justice Committee recognised the importance of an individual's right to delete their data but recommended that the phrase 'right to be forgotten' should be avoided since it was misleading. Since the right to be forgotten is inextricably linked in most people's minds with social media, it was significant that the MoJ considered that parts of the Regulation appeared to be overly-concerned with social media (an anxiety that has perhaps infected the tenor of the drafting).
Subject access rights
Although there were objections from the Federation of Small Businesses to the abolition of the £10 fee for access to personal data and the MoJ was clearly sympathetic to these concerns, the Justice Committee (along with privacy and consumer lobbyists) supported the Commission's position that the right of access should be free. The MoJ was urged to change its negotiating position on this point.
Justice Committee's conclusions
In the Committee's view, the draft Regulation does not produce a proportionate, practicable, affordable or effective system of data protection. Therefore the Committee lay out a stark choice for the Commission: either pursue harmonisation under a Regulation by focusing on the elements essential to harmonise and deploy the consistency mechanism and the European Data Protection Board to achieve this, or use a Directive to set out the outcomes to be achieved and leave implementation down to Member States, thus forgoing an element of harmonisation and consistency. With respect to the new draft Directive on processing personal data for law enforcement and judicial co-operation purposes, the Committee queried whether there is a pressing need to amend EU law in this area.
What next?
The Justice Committee was asked by the European Scrutiny Committee to provide an opinion on the new data protection framework proposals. Although it has delivered its opinion, the opinion contains a number of outstanding actions on the MoJ to clarify its view or provide responses to the Committee on certain aspects of the new data protection framework. This may well inform the MoJ's position as it continues to negotiate at European level on the shape of the data protection framework proposals.