Digital privacy and data protection in the EU : the proposed EU regulation on privacy and electronic communications

Abstract

The rights to private life and to data protection are core fundamental rights enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. As such, these have to be protected by the EU and its Member States against any threat they might face in any area of activity. The primary objective of this thesis is to critically assess the proposed EU Regulation concerning the respect for private life and the protection of personal data in electronic communications vis-à-vis the rights to digital privacy and data protection. Select issues of the proposed Regulation are chosen to form the bulk of the analysis. These topics are then examined in the light of the legal instrument which the proposed Regulation seeks to replace, namely Directive 2002/58/EC, with the wording of the draft proposal being assessed for each and every issue selected. The original text as proposed by the European Commission is then cross-referenced with the European Council’s redraft as well as with the European Parliament’s amendments, with the aim of objectively concluding which version best safeguards the EU citizen’s rights to privacy and data protection. The researcher respectfully offers his opinion on the matter being discussed in each and every chapter with the goal of critiquing the proposed Regulation, while also following up such criticism with suggestions and recommendations. These are humbly submitted with a view to ensuring that the abovementioned rights are afforded better protection by the proposed legal instrument. In the concluding section of this thesis, the researcher expresses his belief that the proposal, as originally put forward by the European Commission, does not sufficiently safeguard the rights to privacy and to data protection in 2018, and amendments are suggested in order to rectify this perceived deficiency.