The European Union, for years, has been trying to establish a standardised online privacy policy to protect users and rights owners. In this context, the EU ePrivacy Regulation continues to be a hotly debated topic. With this, the European Union wants to formulate binding data privacy regulations with EU-wide applications. These policies will not have any direct effect on internet services operating within the United Kingdom, but are important to know for anybody looking to operate their online practices within the borders of the EU. It hasn’t yet been determined, though, when the EU’s ePrivacy Act will come into force and which requirements it will bring with it for the digital industry. And though the UK has made a commitment to improve its digital privacy policies, it’s not entirely clear what will happen in the event of a no-deal Brexit after the transition period.
As a result, there’s a lot left unclear. In this article, we’ll inform you about what we know so far, so that you can get a picture of what to expect.
The ePrivacy Regulation is not identical to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is now in effect in the EU and UK. Irrespective of the UK leaving the EU, it will still be subject to the GDPR – at least during the transition period until December 2020.
With the ePrivacy Regulation (officially: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the respect for private life and the protection of personal data in electronic communications), the European Union wants to strengthen the online privacy of citizens and intensively regulate data protection. Basically, it’s concerned with restoring people’s trust in digital communication channels. Officially, at least, ePrivacy should bring about a reinforcement of the digital single market. It’s the third, and presumably last, measure of a European digital initiative. There’s also a desire to introduce Europe-wide regulations so that companies on the internet (at least within the EU) don’t run into issues as a result of national borders.
With this initiative, the EU has set out necessary regulations: The internet knows no borders. But what exactly does the European authority anticipate with the ePrivacy Regulation? It’s important to first establish that the ePrivacy regulation will affect more companies than any previous data protection policy. The requirements are aimed specifically at software providers, for example, providers of apps like WhatsApp or Skype – basically the entire online industry.
One particular spot being tightened up is the use of cookies. According to the ePrivacy policy, website visitors should be allowed to more easily reject unnecessary cookies via their browser settings. The new regulations would also restrict website operators to only use cookies if users explicitly agree to them. Even if the user doesn’t agree, all website content must be displayed to them. Instead of an opt-out, an opt-in would be required.
The ePrivacy regulations are the dominant policy overseeing how websites operators should handle use of cookies. That’s why the policies are also referred to as the EU cookie law.
To implement these policies, browser manufacturers could also be put under certain obligations. According to drafts of the policy, web browsers should offer users the possibility to fundamentally regulate how operators track them. They must be allowed to answer questions such as: Is anybody allowed to use cookies on me? And if so, are they only direct providers, or also third party providers? Among other things, there’s controversy as to exactly how the default setting should look – i.e. whether the user has to become active themselves in order to protect their privacy. The GDPR at least assumes “Privacy by Default”: Data protection settings should be as strict as possible directly following installation, and then can only be weakened by the user afterwards. In general, tracking services should only be allowed without permission by the user if they serve a purely statistical purpose.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) also took a critical look at privacy protection. The result was the do-not-track-HTTP-header, which many popular browsers already support. With this, users can set the preference in the browser that they don’t want to be tracked. The HTTP header then forwards this information to the website. At the moment, though, website providers are not obligated to comply with this wish. This could be changed with the EU’s ePrivacy Regulation. It goes one step further, though, because according to the regulation, not only the browser but also all other technology for data transmission is supposed to be privy to the data protection.
The draft for ePrivacy also includes machine-to-machine communication. This is the EU’s response to the challenges of the Internet of Things. For these types of data transfer, the same should apply for such instances where users are directly involved. The plan is that devices will only transfer personal data if the user has agreed to it. This could apply to GPS data for smartphones, for example. In general, users must be informed about which data is being collected about them and for what purpose. Therefore, it shouldn’t be possible to hide an agreement in the GTCs or link it to another service. For example, if user data needs to be transferred for online shopping – as it always does – this is allowed. It should not be allowed, though, to use this data for advertising purposes at the same time. For this, a new, specific agreement would be required.
The ePrivacy Regulation shouldn’t be limited to the tapping of personal data by companies, though. Government intervention should also be strongly regulated by ePrivacy. An end-to-end encryption should become obligatory. This means that all data transmissions should be fully encrypted and not viewable by governments. The introduction of backdoors is also to be forbidden. Backdoors that the producer built to grant access for government would be illegal.
ePrivacy shifts away from the internet when it comes to direct marketing. While nothing changes in the principle of e-mail marketing, the regulation intends to more strongly regulate telephone marketing in particular. The proposal states that telephone calls for solicitation purposes should only be allowed if the caller reveals their telephone number or if they use an integrated code to indicate that it’s an advertising call.
The ePrivacy Regulation partially exists to replace the old ePrivacy guidelines and partially to supplement the GDPR. The old regulations have existed since 2002, and were expanded in 2009. However, a European community guideline is not directly effective and binding law, but instead directives have to be converted into national law. As a result, individual nations are afforded a longer transition period. In the case of the ePrivacy Regulation, the situation is different. As with the GDPR, it’s an EU-wide law that’s binding for all countries and would come into effect immediately. The law can grant a transitional period.
The introduction of the GDPR has created even more confusion for businesses wondering what rules they’re going to have to adhere to now. As soon as the ePrivacy Regulation also takes effect, the answer is simple: businesses need to stick to both. The plan is that the regulations in ePrivacy will make the GDPR more concrete. The ePR (as the new regulations will be called) should be a lex specialis. This means that it has priority over the basic data protection regulation – a lex generalis. The GDPR is more general, and should be made clearer by the ePR through specific points with definite rules. The data protection regulation is not specifically tailored to the internet. ePrivacy will better protect this area.
Neither the GDPR nor the ePrivacy Regulation render any state data protection laws obsolete. This has already been decided in the GDPR, and the ePR should also contain the opening clauses: local regulations should be able to influence certain sections of the regulation when it comes to implementation details. Individual lawmakers must change or adapt points that are inconsistent with EU laws, however.
The ePrivacy Regulation has been discussed since April 2016, but has not yet come to a binding conclusion. In January 2017, the European Commission published its first draft. Subsequently, multiple committees issued responses to the Commission’s proposals, which eventually led to the EU Parliament’s own draft in October 2017 (the GDPR had already been decided at this time). Almost one month later, the EU Council Presidency published an assessment report, in which the current state of things was summarised.
Originally, it was planned that ePrivacy and the GDPR would take effect at the same time. This plan has long since been abandoned. EU member states continue to fail to come to an agreement on the terms. They rejected a compromise in November 2019. Some member states have requested a complete redraft of the regulation. Since a year-long transition period is also predicted for the ePrivacy regulation, there won’t be any need to reckon with an immediate implementation of the draft. To which extent the draft will still be changed can’t yet be predicted. However, it’s fairly likely that this won’t remain as the final version.
Cuts made by an ePrivacy Regulation such as the one currently under negotiation affect operators of internet services and the online marketing industry, in particular (in addition to citizens whose privacy is to be protected). So, it’s not very surprising that the greatest criticism is drawn from these areas. The advertising industry, in particular, finds fault with the EU project.
Experts expect that Brexit is unlikely to affect the ePrivacy Regulation because the UK is likely to wish to adhere to the same policies. Because the policy affects the entire EU and UK companies are likely to continue to do business in EU countries, the majority of UK enterprises will adhere to the same privacy regulations. This makes it all the more likely that the UK will adopt ePrivacy Regulations fully or in large part. During the transition period until December 2020, all adopted EU regulations will continue to apply in the UK.
Please note the legal disclaimer relating to this article.
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