EU fine-tuning online privacy legislation

The European Union has unveiled proposed amendments to its online privacy legislation that it hopes will speed up legal cases against internet giants such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

The EU's executive arm — the European Commission — unveiled the draft tweaks to the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, on Tuesday, saying they would make it easier for it to enforce the rules that aim to protect online users' data and privacy.

The original legislation, which was introduced in 2018, gives Europeans the right to decide who can access their personal data, and lets them demand corrections and file legal complaints against big tech companies.

The GDPR also includes the "right to be forgotten" clause, which online users can use to force companies to permanently delete references to them from their databanks.

The EU's Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said the amendments are aimed at speeding up the enforcement of the legislation.

"The GDPR is well enforced but we can do better," he said. "We've seen many fines, but sometimes it's complex and long."

The proposed amendments include a call for privacy regulators in each of the bloc's 27 member nations to share more information faster. The amendments also call for more privacy cases to be settled quickly out of court, if a court process can be avoided.

"In five years, we can count over 711 final decisions that have been taken by data protection authorities," Reynders said, while noting that the process would be even better if it moved more quickly.

The bloc's GDPR legislation, he said, has led to the levying of around 4 billion euros ($4.36 billion) of fines against online companies found in breach of the rules.

However, critics say that, in addition to moving slowly, the legislation can be prohibitively expensive for online users to navigate.

Part of the reason for the slow processing of complaints and investigations is the requirement for online giants suspected of falling foul of the privacy rules to be investigated by the national data protection authorities of the country in which they have their European headquarters.

Some nations have been left with the lion's share of the investigating work as a result because many companies have located their EU headquarters in the Republic of Ireland and Luxembourg.

The new rules still call for the national data protection authorities of the EU country that houses European headquarters to lead investigations, but require other nations to help by sharing a "summary of key issues "with them, and by commenting on possible problems that could arise later in the probe.

EU lawmakers will discuss the proposed amendments and should finalize them within the coming 12 months.