In a world built around online communication, the modernisation of data protection laws is a pressing need for Europe. Every day our data is processed and stored in an unprecedented scale by both the private and the public sector. Our personal data has become a commodity, which value has surpassed any of our expectations. Public and private databases of sometimes highly sensitive data have cropped up and the data is exchanged within Europe as well as transferred to third countries.

The S&D Group welcomes the Commission proposal on reforming the current data protection framework and specifically welcomes that the instrument of Regulation was adopted. However, we must state our grave disappointment that the law enforcement sector was taken out of the Regulation and a Directive was chosen to cover police and judicial cooperation, as this provides and inferior level of protection to our citizens. We believe that the two instruments create a single package and that a high level of harmonisation of provisions between the two, need to be guaranteed.

The S&D Group is committed to data protection rules that protect fully our citizens' fundamental rights but at the same time encourage further harmonisation in the internal market and allow businesses to innovate, grow and create jobs.

We, the S&D, believe that the new data protection framework should be based on the following principles: