James Delahunty
5 Dec 2011 14:47
Reform of rules regarding privacy could take up to two years to be delivered.
Under proposed new rules for the European Union market, firms that break privacy laws could be fined up to 5 percent of their annual turnover. This could amount to billions for multinationals that got on the wrong side of the law.
The European Commission is seeking to reform laws in the region related to privacy, some of which have been untouched since 1995. The ultimate goal would be to harmonize laws across the 27 member states, but there are differences of opinion among national governments that could take some time to settle.
The reforms are aimed at companies selling consumers' personal data on the market, or when private information is compromised from a digital service.
According to the Financial Times, one proposal is to call for all companies with more than 250 employees to dedicate staff to data protection issues, which is not a requirement currently in any EU country.