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On 10 January 2017, the European Commission published the official proposal of the revised e-Privacy Regulation, which amends the current e-Privacy Directive. Many of the alarming changes that were included in the leaked December draft of the Regulation, which we covered, have been changed, resulting in a practical set of rules that align with the wider EU data protection framework. Below, we highlight key points in the official proposal.

Earlier this week, the first draft of the EU’s ePrivacy Regulation was leaked. ePrivacy laws in Europe aim to protect the right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to the processing of personal data in the electronic communications sector (e.g., relating to cookie usage and online direct marketing). The leaked draft is intended to bring the law up-to-date and to align it with other developments in European data protection law. We understand that the leaked draft is still under discussion (and may have been superseded). Nevertheless, the leaked draft may foreshadow what will be contained in the official draft, which sources at the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) say is expected to be released in January 2017. Based on the leaked draft, we expect that many technology companies and online advertisers will not be happy with the official draft.