The European Data Protection Supervisor, Peter Hustinx, has published his opinion in response to  the Commission’s Communication regarding the review of the personal data protection legal framework on his website yesterday, while it was published on this website one day before.

The EDPS recommends that the new legal instrument should be a regulation instead of a directive in order to ensure greater harmonisation of data protection in all member states. The current personal data protection legal framework is grounded on a directive, the Directive 95/46/EC, which has been implemented, with many variations, into the national laws of the member states of the EU.This has led to a lack of harmonisation in EU personal data protection law. A regulation, on the other hand, would become immediately enforceable as law in all member states simultaneously without the need for each state to implement it into its national law and thus a regulation would ensure greater uniformity of data protection in all member states.

While the EDPS agrees with the Commission’s recommendations of November 4, 2010 on most points, he does propose more ambitious approaches on many others.

For a comprehensive analysis of the opinion of the EDPS of Januaty 14, 2011 on the Communication from the Commission regarding “A comprehensive approach on personal data protection in the European Union”, click  here .