As innovation in technology increases, so does the demand on individual privacy rights. The European Council has now taken steps to manage the relationship between privacy and new technology “such as Voice over IP, web-based email and messaging services, and techniques for tracking users’ online behavior", by updating the ePrivacy Directive of 2002. On February 10, 2021, “member states agreed on a negotiating mandate for revised rules on the protection of privacy and confidentiality in the use of electronic communications services.”

The Commission’s draft regulation on ePrivacy will not only repeal the current ePrivacy directive, but it will “complement” the GDPR by filling in gaps, for example, including provisions applicable to both natural and legal persons. The Council’s mandate, in short, will apply to electronic communications content transmitted using publicly available services and networks, metadata related to the communication, and machine-to-machine data transmitted via a public network.

More details on the draft ePrivacy mandate and what it covers can be found here.