The EDRi Brussels office is the main link between the association and the political institutions of the European Union - the European Parliament, European Commission and the Council of the European Union. As an office representing 29 organisations from 18 countries, EDRi Brussels must follow the development of legislative and non-legislative initiatives in the institutions and provide timely feedback to its members and observers.

EDRi also acts as an essential civil society actor for the European institutions. This month alone, we have participated in the European Commission's consultation on extra-judicial takedown of allegedly illegal websites and the consultation on online behavioural advertising. We also spoke at Commissioner Reding's high-level meeting on the review of the 1995 Data Protection Directive and at the Privacy Platform meeting in the European Parliament.

In addition to formal consultation meetings in the institutions, EDRi also has an ongoing programme of meetings with officials and parliamentarians in the EU institutions. In the course of the last twelve months, we have met with officials from several national representations to the Council, parliamentarians and officials from all main political groups in the European Parliament, Commissioner Kroes and the private offices of Commissioners Reding and Malmström and participated in the meeting between international fundamental rights experts, the Swedish government and the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

A further part of the work of EDRi Brussels is also providing written responses to consultations. More information on this may be found in the EDRi report for the past 2 years.

It is also important for EDRi to spread its message more broadly in Brussels. As a result, we regularly accept invitations to speak at industry events such as the Telecommunications and Media Forum and academic events such as the Wikileaks seminar at Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis.

The workload of the EDRi office in Brussels is going to greatly increase over the coming months and years due to the initiatives detailed in the EU's Digital Agenda and Stockholm Programme. There are some examples of upcoming legislation of major importance to digital rights that have been or will shortly be launched on an EU-level:

a) On the cybercrime front, we have the upcoming review of the data retention Directive and the final stages of the Directive on child exploitation (which is being used as a vehicle for the introduction of EU-wide web blocking). In addition to these, there is a whole range of "self-regulatory" discussions where the Commission aims to (and has already succeeded, in some cases) persuade Internet providers to take on extrajudicial powers in surveillance and punishing their own consumers. In this context, the E-Commerce Directive, which establishes the liability regime for Internet providers is currently the subject of a Commission consultation;

b) The 1995 Directive on data protection is being entirely redrafted and the recently adopted e-privacy Directive will be subject of implementation guidelines from the Commission;

c) With regard to intellectual property, the IPR Enforcement Directive will shortly be the subject of a consultation, leading almost inevitably to a review of the legislation. Furthermore, the controversial plans for a Directive on criminal sanctions for intellectual property infringements will be resurrected by the Commission. The Commission is also due to shortly launch proposals on orphan works and collecting societies.

EDRi's Brussels Office currently has one paid staff member.

Digital Agenda
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52010DC024...

Stockholm Programme
http://www.se2009.eu/polopoly_fs/1.26419!menu/standard/file/Klar_Stock...

(Contribution by Joe McNamee - EDRi Brussels Office)