LIBE report on ePrivacy is unbalanced and lacks broad support in the European Parliament

DIGITALEUROPE takes note of today’s vote on ePrivacy by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). The vote, marked by a small majority, signals a lack of consensus on this important legislative file. MEPs could hardly reach consensus on the substance and scope of the text. The adopted report is unbalanced and will prevent beneficial technological innovation even when there is no or little impact on citizen’s right to confidentiality – for example in the IoT or M2M context where no personal data is involved.

As per our statement released earlier this week, in which we called on MEPs to reject the LIBE report, DIGITALEUROPE now urges all political groups and MEPs to seriously reconsider the negative implications for innovation, including security and quality of service, stemming from the adopted LIBE text, and to find a more acceptable and balanced solution at the next Plenary session. Starting trilogue negotiations without reaching a balanced consensus on the above would seriously hamper Europe’s ability to innovate and to truly protect consumers’ and citizens’ privacy in today’s and tomorrow’s digital reality.