The EU Commission has officially withdrawn its stalled proposal for the ePrivacy Regulation, a move revealed in the Annexes (no29, p27) to its 2025 work programme.
The original ePrivacy Directive, dating back to 2002 and last revised in 2009, needed updating. Subsequently, the proposal for the ePrivacy Regulation, initially presented in 2017, aimed to modernise data protection rules for electronic communications, including messenger services, cookie tracking, and data retention.
The Commission noted a lack of agreement among legislators and the proposal's outdated nature due to technological and legal advancements as reasons for the withdrawal—the withdrawn regulation sought to address several complex issues simultaneously. However, a report by Netzpolitk reveals that its withdrawal paves the way for new, more focused proposals, possibly addressing the previously bundled issues separately. The failure of the ePrivacy Regulation after years of debate signals a need for a revised approach to regulating online privacy and data protection in the EU.
Commenting on his personal blog, data protection specialist Jon Baines wrote that with the passing of the Data (Use and Access) Bill (DUA Bill) now almost certain, and with it raising the financial penalties for ePrivacy infringements to match those for UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) infringements, there is a "slight irony" in that the UK will be able to say it has a stricter data protection regime than the EU.
Separately, the Commission has also scrapped its two-year-old proposal for the AI Liability Directive (see Annexes no32, p29), citing a lack of agreement on how to proceed. An article by the IAPP reports on the move to abandon the proposal and how it may signal a desired softening of the bloc's digital regulatory approach.
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