BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – Justice ministers of EU member states agreed on a general approach for a European Commission data protection regulation proposal, the commission said in a press release Monday.
The justice ministers agreed to establish a single set of rules for data protection for the European Union, strengthen and add extra rights for citizens, grant more powers for independent national data protection authorities, as well as the establishment of a single supervisory authority for the bloc.
EU's existing data protection rules were established in 1995. Technical progress, globalization and the lack of a single legislation for the bloc calls for reform of data protection regulation.
According to the European Commission, new regulations will help businesses save around $2.6 billion annually.
