The General Data Protection Regulation

Regulation No 2016/679, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is a regulation of the European Union which constitutes the reference text for the protection of data. personal data. It strengthens and unifies data protection for individuals in the European Union.

Development

After four years of legislative negotiations, this regulation was definitively adopted by the European Parliament on 14 April 2016. Its provisions are directly applicable in all 28 Member States of the European Union as of 25 May 2018. This regulation replaces the directive on the protection of personal data adopted in 1995 (Article 94 of the Regulation); contrary to the directives, the regulations do not imply that Member States adopt a transposition law to be applicable.

Main objectives

The main objectives of the RGPD are to increase both the protection of the persons concerned by the processing of their personal data and the accountability of those involved in this processing. These principles can be applied by increasing the power of the regulatory authorities.

Context

In January 2012, the European Commission proposed a comprehensive reform of the rules on the protection of personal data in the European Union. This reform has two components:

• the updating and modernization of the principles set out in the 1995 European Data Protection Directive, in the form of this General Data Protection Regulation
• the drafting of a new Directive on the protection of personal data in the context of police and judicial activities

The purpose of this new regulation is to give citizens control over their personal data, while simplifying the regulatory environment for businesses.

The European Parliament amended this regulation and adopted it on 12th of March 2014 at first reading. Negotiations continued between the delegations of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union and ended on 15th of December 2015. The draft Regulation was passed in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. Home Affairs (LIBE) on 17th of December 2015. The European Regulation was published on 4th of May 2016 in the Official Journal of the European Union and enters into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication. This Regulation applicable from 25th of May 2018 is binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, around the recovery and analysis of data for electoral purposes, bursts shortly before its implementation.