ePrivacy directive, assessment of transposition, effectiveness and copmatibility with the proposed data protection regulation : final report-executive summary

Directive 2002/58/EC - hereafter "the ePrivacy Directive" - aims to protect the privacy and regulate the processing of personal data in the electronic communications sector. As such the Directive complements the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. Inter alia, the ePrivacy Directive specifies how some of the principles of Directive 95/46/EC apply to the electronic communications sector. The ePrivacy Directive is on the other hand part of the Regulatory Framework for Electronic Communications. The Framework was last amended in 2009 and the deadline for transposition of the 2009 amendments was 25 May 2011. By January 2013, all Member States had notified the necessary measures to implement the revised ePrivacy Directive into their national laws. On 25th January 2012, the Commission adopted a proposal for a reform of the EU legal framework on the protection of personal data. The reform includes a Regulation which lays down a new EU framework for data protection (replacing Directive 95/46/EC). The proposed Regulation also makes a limited number of technical adjustments to the ePrivacy Directive to take account of the transformation of Directive 95/46/EC into a Regulation. The Communication that accompanies the proposed Regulation explains that the substantive legal consequences of the new Regulation and of the new Directive for the ePrivacy Directive will be the object, in due course, of a review by the Commission, taking into account the result of the negotiations on the current proposals with the European Parliament and the Council. The first objective of this report is to provide evidence on the transposition of the ePrivacy Directive, but also on the effective implementation and enforcement of key provisions of this Directive in the Member States. A second objective is to assess whether the ePrivacy Directive appears to be achieving its intended effects, by identifying and discussing possible gaps, overlaps and diverging transpositions in the Member States, taking into account, in particular, the need to ensure a single market and free movement by avoiding fragmentation along national boundaries. Last but not least, the report addresses the interaction between the ePrivacy Directive and the proposed Data Protection Regulation in order to assess how the two instruments will operate together.