Taking into consideration the development of the digital market, alongside the recent adoption of General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation 2016/679), the European Commission started the revision of Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector, amended by Directive 2009/136/EC (Directive ePrivacy).

By Opinion no. 3/2016, Article 29 Working Party expressed its support for this process, underlying the need for specific rules for the electronic communications at EU level.

In the same time, in this document it is shown that the revision should maintain the substance of the provisions of the current Directive, by following their efficiency in practice, under the conditions of ensuring the confidentiality of the communications as a main objective of this regulation.

The Opinion of the Article 29 Working Party is accessible in English.

Legal and communication Department