On February 10, the European Union took a decisive step towards adopting the proposed ePrivacy Regulation as the European Council reached a compromise on its negotiating mandate. The ePrivacy Directive, first proposed by the European Commission in 2017, would update the EU rules on when service providers are allowed to process user data and have access to data stored on users’ devices, including the use of cookies and metadata. The regulation would complement and particularize the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which forms the backbone of the EU’s online privacy regime together with the current ePrivacy Directive, adopted in 2002. The Council’s proposal would establish a default rule that all electronic communications data is confidential, and use and processing of such data is only allowed when permitted by the regulation. The European Parliament reached its negotiating mandate in 2017. The institutions can now start negotiations to reach a compromise agreement. Read more.
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