INFORMATION SOCIETY: MAIL ORDER TRADE GROUP SPEAKS OUT ON DATA PROTECTION.

EMOTA cites the ISDN Directive (97/66/EC), the Directive on distance selling (97/7/EC), the one on electronic commerce (2000/31/EE) and the brand-new one on data protection in the electronic communications sector. The last-mentioned piece of legislation is designed to replace the ISDN Directive, which has not even been applied in all the Member States, stresses EMOTA. The association also notes a retread of the personal data protection Directive 95/46/EC is on the cards, even though this has not been transposed in all Member States. The backsliders in this case are France, Ireland and Luxembourg. This debate coincides with a desire amongst the European institutions to probe key principles, such as those relating to the country of origin versus country of destination, opt in/opt and the country of destination versus mutual recognition. EMOTA says "these discussions should first be cleared before undertaking even more new initiatives". EMOTA also believes that "the principle of the country of origin and of mutual recognition should remain the cornerstone of European legislation". A coherent policy needs to be developed at European and national level, it stresses.

--Last June 25, the European Commission sought the opinions of all stakeholders (private individuals and companies) about a series of personal data protection issues: should employers be allow to read staff e-mails? Can online customers be certain any personal information passed on will not be used for unsuitable purposes? Are companies being swamped for requests to access personal data they have? The consultation findings are to be reproduced in a Commission report, due to be presented at the end of the year, on the implementation of the 1995 Directive on the protection of...