Brussels, 28 November 2011. The recently formed Industry Coalition for Data Protection (ICDP) today called on Viviane Reding, Vice President of the European Commission, responsible for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, to establish a  coherent and harmonised framework for Data Protection in the EU.

November 2011. Eleven leading industry associations representing the ICT, High Tech, Online, E-Commerce and Advertising and Marketing Services have joined forces to issue a set of five concrete recommendations to the European Commission for a modernised EU legal framework on Data Protection.

“The revision of data protection rules in the EU should enhance harmonisation and provide the legal certainty which will help deliver a fully functioning Single Market”, said John Higgins, Director-General of DIGITALEUROPE, speaking on behalf of the ICDP.

According to the ICDP, this approach will preserve the fundamental right of citizens to privacy. Together with the call by policy-makers that applicable law needs clarification, self regulation should be promoted and a move towards a country of origin approach should be adopted; companies will be more easily able to comply with laws across Europe.

The ICDP further stresses the need to simplify and streamline overly strict, bureaucratic and burdensome data protection rules to the benefit of Europe’s digital economy, and to bring added protection to citizens.

“The current review presents a unique opportunity to enhance European competitiveness. In its effort to stimulate innovation and enable the EU to deliver on the promises of growth and jobs, Europe must encourage and enable companies to compete on the global stage by streamlining and simplifying the EUs international data transfer rules,” concluded Higgins.

The European Internet Services Providers Association (EuroISPA) welcomes the Court of Justice’s  ruling that  hosting providers  cannot be required to  apply pre-publication scrutiny of users’ communications.

February 2012. BRUSSELS – EuroISPA welcomes the Court of Justice’s clarification in Sabam v Netlog that the responsibility of Internet hosting providers for content is limited to material of which they are actually aware. Hosting providers cannot be required to go searching for questionable material so as to suppress content that nobody has ever complained about. This ruling gives greater legal certainty to Internet providers and ensures protection for the right to publish content without prior censorship.

The Internet industry  plays  a  crucial  part  in  connecting  European  citizens  and  businesses  to  information,  news, entertainment, social media, cultural content and other public interest content. This ruling is therefore of fundamental importance for the future of the Internet and the development of a strong Digital Single Market.“The Internet industry plays a vital role in stimulating the economic recovery and sustainable growth. We therefore welcome the greater legal certainties and protection granted by the Court which are necessary to guarantee the openness of the Internet to the benefit of the development of an innovative Information Society”, said Malcolm Hutty, President of EuroISPA.

BACKGROUND

On 23 June 2009, the Belgian Social networking website Netlog was sued by the Belgian copyright society SABAM which claimed that Netlog should be held responsible for copyright infringement by its users through a cease-and-desist order, which would inevitably require the installation of a system to filter all incoming and saved information of all users of Netlog. On 28 June 2010, the Court followed Netlog’s advice to seek a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union on whether EU law permits national courts to order hosting providers to install a system for filtering and blocking electronic communications.