E-Privacy/LIBE CAS

This page intends to rate the main points of the compromise amendments discussed in LIBE Committee just before the vote of it's final report on the ePrivacy Regulation on 19 October.

The debate in LIBE was dominated by rapporteur Lauristins (S&D) strong willingness to reach a compromise with the conservative groups represented by shadow rapporteur Michal Boni (PEE). Being in line with the position of La Quadrature du Net at the outset, the shadow rapporteurs Jan Albrecht (Greens) et Sophia in't Veld (ALDE) did follow Lauristin on this approach. Their submission to the compromise-dogma lead to several alarmingly dangerous proposals, especially with regard to (1) further processing of our communications data without our consent, to (2) geolocalisation of our devices and to (3) online tracking for commercial purposes in form of cookies. The reason for this devastating objective lays down in the Parliaments internal [rules of procedure http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+RULES-EP+20170116+RULE-069-3+DOC+XML+V0//EN]. As the right-wing groups did not want to accept the text - even though it was voted in LIBE on 19 October - they opposed the mandate of Lauristin in order to submit the text to new amendments, this time in plenary. This situation is what Lauristin wanted to avoid at all costs of the compromises with the right-wing. Therefore, it was necessary that the regressive groups lead by Boni left the negotiations table that the so called 'pro-privacy' coalition (S&D, ALDE, Greens and GUE) was given a second chance to get back on track.

It should be noted that these compromise amendments have not been published officially, which is why we assorted them according to their importance. Here are the main points of negotiation :

Further processing communications data without consent

Compromise amendment 04.10.

Article 20'

End-user interests and rights

[1. Changed and moved to 1(2a)]

2. Member States shall ensure that, where subscribing to services
providing connection to a public communications network and/or
electronic communications services, consumers, and other end-users so
requesting, have a right to a contract with an undertaking or
undertakings providing such services and/or connection. The contract
shall specify in a clear, comprehensive and easily accessible form at
least:

 (a) the identity and address of the supplier;

 (b) services provided, including in particular:
  - where access to emergency services and caller location information
    is to be provided under Article 26, the level of reliability of
    such access, where relevant, and whether access is provided in the
    whole of the national territory,
  - information on any restrictions imposed by the provider regarding a
    subscriber's ability to access, use or distribute lawful content or
    run lawful applications and services,
  - the service quality levels, with reference to any parameters
    specified under Article 22(2) as appropriate,
  - types of maintenance and customer support services offered, as well
    as how to contact customer support,
  - the time for the initial connection, and
  - any restrictions on the use of terminal equipment imposed by the
    provider;

 (c) the subscriber's decision as to whether to include his or her
 personal data in a directory and the data concerned;

 (d) particulars of prices and tariffs and the means by which
 up-to-date information on all applicable tariffs and maintenance
 charges may be obtained, payment methods offered and any differences
 in costs due to payment method;

 (e) the duration of the contract, the conditions for renewal and
 termination of services and of the contract, including 
  - any charges related to portability of numbers and other
    identifiers, and
  - any charges due on termination of the contract, including any cost
    recovery with respect to terminal equipment;

 (f) any compensation and the refund arrangements which apply if
 contracted service quality levels are not met; 

 (g) the method of initiating procedures for settlement of disputes in
 accordance with Article 34;

 (h) the type of action that might be taken by the undertaking
 providing connection and/or services in reaction to security or
 integrity incidents or threats and vulnerabilities, as well as any
 compensation arrangements which apply if security or integrity
 incidents occur.

The contract shall also include any information provided by the
relevant public authorities on the use of electronic communications
networks and services to carry out unlawful activities or to
disseminate harmful content, and the means of protection against
risks to personal security, privacy and personal data, as referred to
in Article 21(4a) and relevant to the service provided.

7. Subscribers have a right to withdraw from their contracts without
penalty upon notice of modifications in the contractual conditions
proposed by operators. Subscribers shall be given adequate notice,
not shorter than one month, ahead of any such modifications and shall
be informed at the same time of their right to withdraw, without
penalty, from such contracts, if they do not accept the new
conditions.