Data Protection in the EU: Time for a New Direction?

Abstract

History and Implementation. The world is becoming an increasingly complex place. To compete in a global economy, businesses have to be adaptable, innovative and efficient. These are, surely, uncontentious facts. But the most dramatic change in the behaviour of business over the last 30 years, or more, has been the increasing use to which IT has been put, and the way that companies do business as a result. We should remember that it was the increasing use of computers in the 1970s that first prompted concerns about the risks they posed to privacy. "Privacy" is a word I will be returning to later. In 1981 the Council of Europe Convention established minimum standards among member countries to regulate the flow of information among them without infringing personal privacy. Thereafter, various countries in the EU introduced legislation to give effect to these standards. Eventually; (Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data) was issued.