Brussels, 5 June –BSA | The Software Alliance issued a letter yesterday, calling upon the European Union (“EU”) Telecommunications Ministers to reject the calls to provide the Bulgarian Council Presidency with a mandate to begin informal trilogue negotiations on the draft ePrivacy Regulation (“ePR”). Ministers are set to meet on Friday 8th June to discuss the status of technical deliberations on the draft legislation during the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council meeting.

BSA firmly believes that the recent Council compromise text continues to incorrectly mix the principle of confidentiality with the principle of personal data protection. This has led to a text, which thus far, fails to provide the legal clarity needed for industry to continue to innovate in the EU.

“We are becoming increasingly concerned that the debate continues to confuse the concept of data protection with confidentiality of communications. These rights are intentionally separated in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and we fear that this separation is not yet sufficiently clear in the Council’s text,” noted Thomas Boué, Director General, Policy – EMEA.

In the letter, BSA calls on Ministers to begin trilogue negotiations only once a balanced and comprehensive Council General Approach is obtained, while encouraging Member States to use the ePR as a means to address any gaps that might emerge in the GDPR.

“With the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) having only recently entered into force, the ePR should be used as a way to address any gaps presented by this newly enacted framework. At this stage, these gaps are not sufficiently clear, and the Council should not preemptively address problems that have yet to emerge,” added Boué.

Find the BSA letter with annex here.