About The EU Data Protection DirectiveDirective 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, also known as the EU Data Protection Directive, was passed in 1995 to help safeguard the rights of European individuals in regards to personal data. The exceedingly long name directive has inspired additional laws to be based throughout the EU since to further safeguard citizen's personal data. The right to privacy is a highly developed and important area of law in Europe. It is a part of the European Convention on Human Rights which all EU member states are signatories to. The EU Data Protection Directive seeks to ensure the protection of citizen's privacy, inspired in part as a reaction to the brutal fascist and socialist regimes that arose in Europe in the 20th Century. The EU Data Protection Directive offers a broad protection of individuals' privacy and personal data as opposed to the collection of smaller laws enacted in the United States in regard to privacy. The EU Data Protection Directive regulates all processing of personal data, regardless if the processing is automated or not. This would include mail, telephone calls, instant messaging, backup files, and information stored on a citizen's personal computer. Data may only be transferred to countries outside the European Union if those countries provide adequate levels of protection. This has led to some minor tension between the United States and the European Union as many Europeans find the US's lack of a broad data protection bill to be a sign of weak data protection across the Atlantic. Data may be processed only under the EU Data Protection Directive under certain guidelines, as follows: The data subject has given his consent. The processing is necessary for the performance of or the entering into a contract. The processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation. The processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject. The processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller or in a third party to whom the data are disclosed. Or finally, the processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by the third party or parties to whom the data are disclosed, except where such interests are overridden by the interests for fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject. |