In January the European Commission presented a reform of the EU Data Protection Directive. The main focus is to guarantee privacy rights in the digital economy and to remove the current fragmentation and costly administrative burdens due to the existence of 27 different national laws.
The Directive will include new principles related to data protection processing: accountability, the right to be forgotten and “privacy by design”. National Authorities will also be empowered to fine companies that violate data protection rules up to €1m or up to two percent of their global annual turnover.
The main changes include: creating an independent European Data Agency; a requirement for public sector and large enterprises to designate a Data Protection Officer; and organisations must notify the national supervisory authority of serious data breaches within 24 hours.