12 March, 2014
Press release: One step closer to Europe’s future privacy rules: let it be a win-win for citizens and businesses
ETNO underlines importance of territorial scope and risk-based approach on the day of the European Parliament vote
ETNO recognizes today’s vote by the European Parliamentary Plenary as a key contribution to the completion of the legislative work on the EU data protection legislation. Reform of the current EU framework is urgently needed in order to take account of the new digital context and to introduce more harmonisation across the EU and legal certainty for business.
For this to happen, European telecom operators are supportive of all those advocating for the following three key principles: ensuring that the rules apply to all EU and non-EU players offering services to EU citizens, strengthening a risk-based approach to privacy legislation and reducing the administrative burden imposed on businesses.
Luigi Gambardella, ETNO Executive Board Chairman, said: "Today’s vote brings us one step closer to a new data protection framework, which is likely to usher Europe into the next decade. We should allow responsible companies to unlock the value of personal data through new digital services that consumers are demanding. In turn, these services will generate growth and jobs throughout the EU. At the same time, we need to make sure that citizens enjoy the same rights, irrespective of where the service provider is based: this will also help build a regulatory level playing field between EU and US companies, creating a fairer competitive environment" said.
ETNO has consistently pushed for the principle of 'same service, same rules' and fully supports the European Commission’s call for data protection rules to apply irrespective of the nationality of the person concerned. Applying different standards to nationals and non-nationals makes no sense in view of the global nature of the Internet and impedes the free flow of data.
ETNO also believes that the international transfer of data, including to the US, is vital to ensure a well-functioning global Internet economy and a high level of data protection should be guaranteed for such data. As such, ETNO welcomes the current review process of the Safe Harbor Agreement and sees it as an important occasion to set high data privacy standards for the benefit of consumers and business.
For media inquiries: Alessandro Gropelli, Head of Communications and Media,
gropelli@etno.eu, 0032 (0) 4769 41839
0032 (0) 4769 41839, Twitter: @ETNOAssociation
