The Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) has voted on 19 March 2013.
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Why not familiarise yourself with the most important arguments here, or ask for your MEP to support or reject certain amendments below.
Example:
Dear <Name of the MEP>,
The <Name of Committee> will soon be voting on the Commission proposal for a General Data Protection Regulation. This is a unique opportunity for MEPs to defend European citizens’ rights to privacy and data protection. You have the chance to develop a strong legal framework, inspiring good practice by business, guided by clear, predictable legal principles and enforcement, in an environment of trust.
Example A: I am therefore asking you to support <insert examples of key issues, e.g. a strong definition of consent / a narrow framing of legitimate interest / a clarification of the right to erasure / a general prohibition for all kinds of profiling.>
Example B: I am therefore asking you to support / reject the following amendments : <List of Amendments>
Yours sincerely,
- Good amendments that should be adopted:
- Am 107 (Article 4 – 1) : This amendment improves the Commission wording by pointing out that being able to “single out” a person is enough for the data to be considered personal data.
- AM 135 (Article 6-1-f ): Given the slippery nature of the concept of “legitimate interest”, it would be best to remove this ground for processing – or at least additional safeguards should be put in place to allowed this clause only as a measure of last resort when no other legal ground for data processing exists. It should also be justified and communicated to the public before it is used.
- AM 211 (Article 18) : This improves the right to data portability. Requiring interoperable formats prevents controllers from providing data in formats that would create a “lock-in effect” or even tie users to possibly expensive proprietary formats.
- AM 221: This amendment clarifies that profiling of citizens should be properly regulated, both on- and offline.
- AMs 223-225 : These amendments improve the Commissions proposal by providing better safeguards regarding profiling.
- AM 345 (Article 44 a (new)) on transfers to third countries. This amendment provides good additional protection against third countries that wish to enforce their laws against European citizens.
- Bad amendments that should be rejected:
- Amendment 22 (Article 4 – 2 bis) defines anonymisation: The problem with this formulation is that with technological progress, the means for de-anonymising data advance quickly. In other words: it is likely that measures that are ‘disproportionate’ today will not be ‘dispropotionate’ in several years, which removes the increased legal certainty that the amendment was intended to create.
- Amendment 24 (Article 6 – 1 – f) on legitimate interest broadened to third parties : This formulation decreases control of citizens over their personal data, as data may be used by (unknown) third parties without citizens’ consent.
- Amendment 36 (Article 18) suggests the deletion of the right to data portability. The JURI Committee should follow the ITRE vote and adopt the right to port your data in interoperable formats.
- AM 114 (Article 4 – 8): The definition of “consent” should not be changed. Allowing implicit consent will lead to a ‘race to the bottom’, allowing for consent as pre-ticked boxes or as part of general terms and conditions.
- AM 144 (Article 6 -4) : This amendment weakens the principle of purpose limitation (see Article 5 (b)) by allowing use of personal data for unrelated and incompatible purposes. Purpose limitation, as one of the main pillars of data protection, should not be weakened.
- AM 227 (Article 20 – 2 – c ): This would effectively remove all additional protections against profiling, rendering the right not to be subject to it void. It would for example include “legitimate interests” of the controllers and would also grant public sector controllers wide discretion to engage in profiling.
The most important MEPs of this Committee are:
| Role | MEP | Group | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rapporteur Marielle Gallo |
 |
EPP/EFA | E-mail: marielle.gallo@europarl.europa.eu Building Altiero Spinelli 14E146 60, rue Wiertz, 1047 Bruxelles Tel.: +322 28 45181 — +322 28 47181 Fax: +322 28 49181 |
| Shadow Rebecca Taylor |
 |
ALDE | E-mail: rebecca.taylor@europarl.europa.eu Altiero Spinelli 10G254 60, rue Wiertz, 1047 Bruxelles Tel.: +322 28 45201 — +322 28 47201 Fax: +322 28 49201 |
| Shadow Françoise Castex |
 |
S&D | E-mail: francoise.castex@europarl.europa.eu Building Altiero Spinelli 14G210 60, rue Wiertz, 1047 Bruxelles Tel.: +322 28 45129 — +322 28 47129 Fax: +322 28 49129 |
| Shadow Jiri Mastalka |
 |
GUE/NGL | E-mail: jiri.mastalka@europarl.europa.eu Building Altiero Spinelli 06F365 60, rue Wiertz, 1047 Bruxelles Tel.: +322 28 45905 — +322 28 47905 Fax: +322 28 49905 |
| Shadow Eva Lichtenberger |
 |
Greens/EFA | E-mail: eva.lichtenberger@europarl.europa.euBuilding Altiero Spinelli 08G157 60, rue Wiertz, 1047 Bruxelles Tel.: +322 28 45139 — +322 28 47139 Fax: +322 28 49139 |
| Shadow Karim Sajjad |
 |
ECR |
E-mail: sajjad.karim@europarl.europa.eu Building Altiero Spinelli 04M107 60, rue Wiertz, 1047 Bruxelles Tel.: +322 28 45640 — +322 28 47640 Fax: +322 28 49640 |