EU E-Commerce Proposal Seeks Data Privacy Rules for WTO Members

The European Union published a new e-commerce proposal May 3 that calls on governments to adopt high standard privacy safeguards and recognize the protection of personal data privacy as a “fundamental right.”

The nine-page proposal would preserve the ability for European governments to implement policies that protect personal data privacy as long as they contain “information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.” Governments “may adopt and maintain the safeguards they deem appropriate to ensure the protection of personal data and privacy, including through the adoption and application of rules for the cross-border transfer of personal data,” the proposal ...