DELAY OF PROPOSED DATA PROTECTION DIRECTIVE

DELAY OF PROPOSED DATA PROTECTION DIRECTIVE NO REASON FOR DISAPPOINTMENT

The office of Viviane Reding, the EU Commissioner assigned to rewrite the EU Data Protection Directive has announced that they will not issue their proposed revision of the region’s fifteen-year-old Data Protection this in November as originally promised.

Instead, Europe’s most well-known consumer advocate says she will not issue a statement on the rewrite, taking a full year more to get it right.

The postponement comes in response from some of the continent’s most prominent data protection officials, urging the Commission to take more time developing the Directive.

NAID CEO Bob Johnson maintains that there is nothing to be disappointed by the delay.  For one, Johnson says that it shows she is listening to the right people.  “The same people asking her to take more time are the people asking for data breach notification, better enforcement powers, mandatory fines and written policies. This means that she is turning to the right people for advice.” Johnson goes on to say, “If we’ve learned one thing it is that the longer these things stay in the news, the better off we are.  Lengthening the process just gives us longer to talk about it, longer for the media to focus on it, and increases the odds of a meaningful new regulation.”

As it stands, the proposed new version of the Data Protection Directive will not be issued until November of 2011, and will then be subject to a year or more of debate.