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EDRi welcomes the European Commission's proposal for a new data protection Regulation. Europe needs a comprehensive reform in order to ensure the protection of its citizens’ personal data and privacy, while enhancing legal certainty and competitiveness in a single digital market. Since the “inter-service” draft was leaked in December, there has been a significant lobbying effort by certain foreign governments and industries.
Introduction The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a plurilateral international agreement which wants to set a “gold standard” for the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The Agreement will have major implications for freedom of expression, access to culture and privacy. It will also harm international trade and stifle innovation.
Decision-time in the European Parliament
In February, the European Parliament will be formally given the dossier. It then plans to discuss the dossier with the International Trade Committee as the body in charge, with input from the Industry, Legal Affairs, Civil Liberties and Development Committees.
Right at the end of the inter-service consultation process in the European Commission (the almost final step before a legislative proposal is launched), the United States Department of Commerce launched a significant lobbying campaign against the leaked draft proposal for a Data Protection Regulation. The campaign included high-level phone calls from senior figures in the US Department of Commerce to top level staff in the European Commission covering topics such as US business, multilateral and bilateral treaty organizations, PNR, national security, law enforcement, trade and innovation.
EDRi launches complaint on lack of transparency of European Parliament on ACTA
Over the past six months, EDRi has made repeated requests to the European Parliament for access to ACTA documents. Despite having voted not fewer than four times in favour of more transparency in this dossier, the Parliament has consistently refused our applications.