Breakthrough on data privacy rules raises pressure on EU leaders

EU commissioner urges national leaders to rise to the challenge after European parliament committee backs draft rules

The Guardian, Ian Traynor in Brussels and Angelique Chrisafis in Paris, Tuesday 22 October 2013

Viviane Reding, the EU commissioner for justice. Photograph: Frederick
Florin/AFP/Getty Images

European leaders are under pressure to respond to the controversy over mass digital surveillance after the European parliament moved to toughen data privacy rules and curb data transfers to the US, and following outrage in France at the scale of the intrusion.

Elysee Palace sources said François Hollande, who spoke by telephone to Barack Obama on Monday, wanted the issue to be raised at a summit of EU leaders opening on Thursday in Brussels.

The most senior EU official dealing with the issue, the commissioner for justice, Viviane Reding, said Monday evening's European parliament committee vote on new rules for securing data privacy was a breakthrough and demanded prompt action from national leaders.

"The European parliament has thrown down the gauntlet. European leaders must now rise to the challenge. Heads of state and government should make clear that common European data protection rules are very much needed and are needed now," she said.

Following reports that US surveillance of France extended to monitoring more than 70m phone calls and text messages in less than a month at the turn of the year, Hollande called Obama to complain. He said the alleged practices were "unacceptable between friends and allies because they infringe on the privacy of French citizens".

The French, backed by the Poles and the European commission, are seeking a commitment to fast-track the new rules governing data privacy, while the British and the Scandinavians are stressing that quality take precedence over haste. On Tuesday the German government said the parliament's draft would need to be overhauled.

The parliament's civil liberties committee overwhelmingly backed draft rules on data privacy in what was the first concrete EU response to revelations about the activities of the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK's General Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).

The new regime would curb the transfer of personal data to US corporations. It forms a framework for further negotiations with the 28 governments of EU member states. The legislation has been gridlocked for almost two years following US pressure to dilute the package.

The summit on Thursday and Friday is largely taken up with discussion on how to boost Europe's digital economy, meaning the issue of digital snooping will inevitably intrude. The current draft declaring the outcome of the summit talks says: "It is important to foster the trust of consumers and businesses in the digital economy through the adoption next year of a strong EU general data protection framework."

Disclosures by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden have changed the political climate on data privacy, lending greater urgency to attempts to frame new EU rules.

Jan Philipp Albrecht, the German Green MEP steering the legislation through the parliament in Strasbourg, said: "The vote is a breakthrough for data protection rules in Europe, ensuring that they are up to the challenges of the digital age. This legislation introduces overarching EU rules on data protection, replacing the current patchwork of national laws."

Parts of the draft rules tightly regulating the transfer of data from Europe to America were dropped previously after intense US lobbying but have been reintroduced to proscribe the practice unless explicitly allowed.

US companies providing data services in Europe but not based there would need to obtain special permission before they could transfer information to and store it in the US, where it may be tapped by the NSA. They would face swingeing fines if found to be in breach.

The draft supported by MEPs on Monday forms the basis for further negotiation with the 28 EU governments and the European commission, meaning it is likely to be altered substantially before coming into force. The aim is to have the new regime agreed by next spring and in force by 2016, but that looks unlikely. The 28 governments are still trying to reach a common negotiating position.

Tension between Paris and Washington over claims that the NSA engaged in widespread phone and internet surveillance of French citizens persisted on Tuesday after Le Monde detailed US methods of spying on French diplomats in Washington and at the UN in New York.

In a second day of stories based on Snowden disclosures, the French daily said NSA internal memos detailed "the wholesale use of cookies by the NSA to spy on French diplomatic interests at the UN and in Washington".

Big US companies operating in Europe will be subject to
EU law rather than American court orders under the new rules.
 Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters

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