The EU Institutions reached a consensus on the new EU data protection package, based on the outcome of the negotiations, held on 15 December.
On Friday (15 December), the LIBE Committee, the COREPER and the European Commission reached an agreement on the EU Data Protection Reform, including the General Data Protection Regulation and the Police Directive. This represents one of the last steps towards the final adoption of these texts.
Since the beginning of the discussions on the reform package, the Article 29 Working Party (WP29) has been contributing to ensure a unified and high level of data protection in the EU and in both instruments through the publication of a number of opinions and documents addressed to the three negotiating institutions.
The WP29 welcomes this major decision for European credibility and has already started working to ensure a smooth and constructive transitional period for all stakeholders, especially to be ready to act as the European Data Protection Board.
Background Information
In January 2012, the European Commission proposed a package of reforms for personal data protection, in line with the rapid development of technologies and globalisation, aiming at the modernization the current rules, regarding data protection. The package consists of a proposition of a General Data Protection Regulation, which is to replace the current Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data from 1995, as well as the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties and the free movement of such data.
The Article 29 Working Party is an independent advisory body on data protection and privacy, set up under Article 29 of the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. It is comprised of representatives from the national data protection authorities of the EU Member States, the European Data Protection Supervisor and the European Commission. Its tasks are described in Article 30 of Directive 95/46/EC and Article 15 of Directive 2002/58/EC. The Article 29 Working Party is competent to examine any question covering the application of the data protection directives in order to contribute to the uniform application of the directives. It carries out this task by issuing recommendations, opinions and working documents. When the General Data Protection Regulation comes into force, WP 29 will be transformed into the European Data Protection Board.
Bulgaria participates in Article 29 Working Party form 2007, and in 2014 Mr. Ventsislav Karadjov, Chairperson of the Commission for Personal Data Protection was elected to be its Vice-Chair.
