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eGovernment in the European Union May 2015Legal frameworkMain legal texts impacting on the development of eGovernmentData Protection/PrivacyRegulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by theCommunity institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data [Official JournalL8 of 12.01.2001].This Regulation contains provisions aiming to protect personal data processed by EuropeanUnion (EU) institutions and bodies. These provisions aim to ensure a high level of protectionfor personal data managed by Community institutions and bodies.This Regulation also provides for the establishment of a “European Data ProtectionAuthority”, an independent Community authority responsible for monitoring the correctapplication of the data protection rules by the EU institutions and bodies. This authority willbe comparable to the data protection authorities established by Member States inaccordance with Directive 95/46/EC on data protection. Citizens will thus be able to lodgecomplaints directly with that authority if they consider their data protection rights under theRegulation have not been respected.Each Community institution and body shall appoint at least one person as Data ProtectionOfficer with the task of cooperating with the Data Protection Supervisor and ensuring thatthe rights and freedoms of the data subjects are unlikely to be adversely affected by thedata processing. Citizens enjoy legally enforceable rights under the Regulation, such as theright to access, rectify, block or delete personal data relating to them in files held by theCommunity institutions and bodies.Directive 97/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 15 December 1997,on the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the telecommunicationssectorDirective 97/66/EC specifically deals with the protection of privacy intelecommunications. It states that Member States must guarantee the confidentiality ofcommunication by means of national regulations. Any unauthorised listening, tapping,storage or other kinds of interception or surveillance of communications is illegal. Wherecalling-line identification is offered, users must be given the option not to subscribe to thisservice, or not to have their identification revealed when making a telephone call.Conversely, subscribers to this service must have the option to reject incoming calls fromindividuals who have blocked their calling-line identification. Additionally, the Directivestates that where printed or electronic telecommunication directories exist, individuals areentitled to have their data removed from the list, in principle, at no cost.It has been repealed by Directive 2002/58/EC. This directive is part of the Electroniccommunications regulatory framework, which is discussed below.[20]
eGovernment in the European Union May 2015Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 24 October 1995, onthe protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the freemovement of such data 5To remove obstacles to free movement of data without diminishing the protection ofpersonal data, Directive 95/46/EC (the data protection Directive) was developed toharmonise national provisions in this field and to ensure that all citizens have equivalentprotection across the Union. The directive, effective from 24 October 1998, applies to 'anyoperation or set of operations which is performed upon personal data', called 'processing' ofdata. Such operations include the collection of personal data, its storage, disclosure, etc.The Directive applies to data processed by automated means (e.g. a computer database ofcustomers) and to data that are part of or intended to be part of non-automated 'filingsystems'. Access to the latter can vary, for example, the filing system may containtraditional card paper files, with information presented in alphabetical order.The data protection Directive does not apply to data processed for purely personal reasonsor household activities (e.g. an electronic personal diary or a file with details of family andfriends). It does not apply either to areas such as public security, defence or criminal lawenforcement, which are outside the competence of the EC and remain a nationalprerogative. National legislation generally provides protection for individuals in these areas.Interconnection of business registersDirective 2012/17/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2012amending Council Directive 89/666/EEC and Directives 2005/56/EC and 2009/101/EC ofthe European Parliament and of the Council as regards the interconnection of central,commercial and companies registersDirective 2012/17/EU on the interconnection of business registers entered into force on 7July 2012. Member States have had two years to adapt their national laws to introduce thefirst set of provisions in the Directive, including a new obligation on business registers tomake available documentation submitted by limited liability companies normally within 21days of receipt. Ensuring that information about companies is always up to date is one ofthe main objectives of this Directive.Business registers will also have to make available information on the rules in their nationallaw, according to which third parties can rely on certain company documents. The secondset of provisions in the Directive requires a Business Registers Interconnection System(BRIS) to be established. The technical details of this system will be adopted through animplementing act which will be prepared by the Commission by 7 July 2015. Member Stateswill then have another two years to transpose the remaining rules and make the necessarypreparations for connecting to the new system. When the Directive is fully transposed,BRIS will make it easy to access information on EU companies via the e-Justice or othernational portals. In addition, it will facilitate electronic communication between registers inrelation to cross-border mergers and branches of companies registered in other MemberStates.5 Amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003[21]
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