The EU will not accept any moves by the Americans to water down rules about the collection of individual personal information by companies, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said today inBrussels.
“If companies outside Europe want to take advantage of the European market with its potential 500 million customers then they have to play by the European rules,” said Reding.
American companies like Facebook Google and Microsoft have been trying to stop European legislation protecting citizens’ rights over their personal information.
Even the US Ambassador to the EU William Kennard has been whipped in by the American tech companies to lobby the EU against protecting Europeans’ right to privacy. Threats of trade wars have been issued by the Americans.
Reding is standing firm: “Those who want to maintain a high level of protection in Europe have recognized the need to move fast. Those who want to lower the level of protection in Europe have tried to slow the file down. I will not let this happen.”
“Data protection is a fundamental right,” added Reding, “consumers inEurope need to know that their data is processed in line with European rules.”
The EU wants to enact a law that people have to give their consent for companies to gather information on them and that infringement can result in fines of 2% of global sales.
