The date of the first binding vote by the Civil Liberties,
Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) on the proposed
amendments to the EU Data Protection Regulation has been delayed
again.
Initially planned for April, then May, a new date has not been
set, but it’s believed that a vote will take place before the
summer break starts in mid-July.
The committee is voting on provisions such as the right to be
forgotten, the issue of “explicit consent” and the
requirement for data protection officers. However, according to a
survey carried out on behalf of the UK’s Information
Commissioner’s Office (ICO) among 506 businesses, none of the
respondents could accurately describe all 10 provisions. This
suggests that a large proportion of companies in the UK do not
have a clear grasp of how the data protection regulation will
impact their business.
According to Nigel Swabey, president of the CatEx DCA trade
association, “This is what our industry has been fearing
for the past 25 years it’s the most serious threat we’ve ever
faced”. Swabey, who is also chief executive of multititle
catalogue group Scotts & Co, warns that outlawing
“profiling” as the amendments suggest, will severely
infringe the right of businesses to use data to market their
goods and services to consumers across Europe. Swabey says that
if approved in its current form, this EU regulation will impede
cataloguers from suppressing unwanted mailings will make it
impossible to target those who wish to receive catalogues with
any degree of accuracy and “will strip away our ability to
ensure that our mailings are relevant to the individual”.
He urges direct marketers, cataloguers and online retailers to
continue lobbying their MPs and MEPs and make their voices
heard.
Following the vote, LIBE will begin negotiations with the Council
of Ministers, and lastly, the regulation is debated then approved
by the European parliament.
Brussels had hoped to adopt the regulation before Europe goes to
the polls, but after this second delay, it may prove difficult to
implement the plan before parliament is reappointed in
2014.
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