Europe and the EU – TCPA Watch

The New EU-US Privacy Shield: a New Deal on Personal Data Transfers

Feb 04 2016

By Bruce J. Heiman, Michael J. O’Neil, Ignasi Guardans, Etienne Drouard

On February 2, two days after the deadline set by Europe for agreement on a new Safe Harbor governing US access to the personal data of European citizens, US and EU negotiators announced that they had agreed upon a framework for a new data sharing agreement, which will be called the EU-US Privacy Shield, to replace the Safe Harbor agreement struck down by the European Court of Justice on October 6, 2015.

US companies adhering to the EU-US Privacy Shield, which has yet to be formally adopted by both the EU Commission and the US Department of Commerce, will be able to receive, store and use personal data from Europe according to its terms.

The key elements of the EU-US Privacy Shield, which aims to assure that US protections of European personal data will be essentially equivalent to that provided in Europe, will be:

EC Considers Extension of Cable/Satellite Copyright Rules to Online Distribution

Aug 26 2015

By Ignasi Guardans and Dr. Martin von Albrecht

The European Commission has just launched a public consultation on a 1993 Directive on copyright rules applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission, which essentially seeks views on a possible extension of the Directive to Internet distribution.

The EC is asking whether EU rules, which define where and how satellite broadcasters and cable companies should clear copyrights, are up-to-date. It is also seeking views on the impact of extending these rules to cover broadcaster services (including TV and radio) provided over the Internet. This consultation is one of the 16 initiatives announced in the Commission’s plan for the Digital Single Market. According to the release, the EC is trying to enhance cross border access to broadcasting and related online services across the EU.

EU Data Protection Supervisor Releases Report on Pending Data Protection Reforms

Jul 31 2015

By Marlena Wach

The European Union Data Protection Supervisor, Giovanni Buttarelli, recently released his non-binding recommendations on the draft EU General Data Protection Regulation, which is the subject of a so-called “trilogue” consultative process among officials of the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of Ministers to agree on final language of the regulations. It is largely expected that once finalized, the GDPR will be adopted before year end 2015, which will require approval by both the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. As reflected in an annex to Mr. Buttarelli’s recommendations, the European Parliament and Council of Ministers have differed in their approach to various aspects of the regulations, particularly as to enforcement and sanctions, necessitating the trilogue discussions.

European Court of Human Rights Rules Company Liable for Offensive User-Generated Comments

Jun 17 2015

By Ignasi Guardans

On Monday, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that an Estonian commercially-run Internet news portal was liable for the offensive online comments of its readers. This was the first case in which the court had been called upon to examine a complaint about liability for user-generated comments on an Internet news portal.

In its grand chamber judgment in the case of Delfi AS v. Estonia (application no. 64569/09), the ECHR held, by 15 votes to two, that there had been no violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The ECHR has a final say, above any other national jurisdiction, on matters related to the European Convention on Human Rights and its judgments have a huge influence in courts all across the Continent. Read More

EC Digital Single Market Strategy — Details Emerge

Jun 11 2015

By Ignasi Guardans, Etienne Drouard, and Annette Mutschler-Siebert

As we recently reported and covered in a webinar, on May 6, the European Commission released the EU’s Digital Single Market strategy, with the declared objective to tear down the obstacles to doing business online. The DSM Strategy has been released together with a document intended to provide the “Analysis and Evidence” supporting it.

The DSM Strategy will create potential major challenges as well as opportunities for almost every company doing business in the EU.

Catagory:Europe and the EU