ESMIG, EHPA and Eurelectric have together detailed their concerns regarding the EU Council’s progress on the e-Privacy Regulationproposal.
Having closely monitored the developments on the e-Privacy Regulation over the past years, we acknowledge that the regulation for electronic communications is a complex matter as it must strike a balance between protecting the users’ data on the one hand and boosting digitalisation in the EU on the other hand.
Despite the energy sector’s commitment to protect our customers’ privacy and data integrity, we are sorry to conclude that the Council’s efforts to date did not result in a proposal that could provide further protection of the energy services’ customers’ data without heavily undermining digitalisation of the energy sector.
Draft proposals of consecutive Presidencies have not included positive developments within the Council over the past years and could have had a major negative impact on the green and digital transitions often invoked by all the EU institutions.
As such, we welcome the current Portuguese Presidency’s declaration on setting a balance between the high-level protection of the fundamental rights to private life and fostering development of new technologies and innovation.
Based on the draft proposals of consecutive Presidencies we have developed some key observations taking a closer look at:
- Grounds for applicability of the e-Privacy Regulation to the energy sector
- Energy sector under the GDRP framework
- Potential consequences of the e-Privacy Regulation to the energy sector
- Impact on e-Privacy Regulation on the use of non-personal data
Read the full statement here.