EDPB adopts statement on ePrivacy Regulation

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has released a statement on the agreed negotiation mandate adopted by the Council on the protection of privacy and confidentiality in the use of electronic communication services (’the Council’s position’), as a positive step towards a new ePrivacy Regulation. The EDPB stated in particular that the ePrivacy Regulation must under no circumstances lower the level of protection offered by the current ePrivacy Directive but should complement the GDPR by providing additional strong guarantees for confidentiality and protection of all types of electronic communication. In no way the ePrivacy Regulation can be used to de facto change the GDPR. In this regard, the Council’s position is raising a series of concerns and the EDPB wishes to point issues, which should be addressed in the upcoming negotiations (such as the retention of electronic communication data for the purposes of law enforcement, the confidentiality of communications, encryption and exceptions for data processing).