ETNO comments on the Article 29 Working Party Guidelines on Consent under Regulation 2016/679 (WP259)
On 28 November 2017, the Article 29 Working Party (WP29) adopted a set of Guidelines on Consent under Regulation 2016/67 and invited interested stakeholders to present comments. ETNO welcomes this opportunity to comment on WP29’s guidelines and would like to stress the importance of clear rules on free and informed consent in order to ensure trust of individuals and data subjects.
On 28 November 2017, the Article 29 Working Party (WP29) adopted a set of Guidelines on Consent under Regulation 2016/67 and invited interested stakeholders to present comments. ETNO welcomes this opportunity to comment on WP29’s guidelines and would like to stress the importance of clear rules on free and informed consent in order to ensure trust of individuals and data subjects.
ETNO particularly appreciates the clarification that all the references to the repealed Directive 95/46/EC in the existing e-Privacy Directive 2002/58/EC are to be understood as references to the GDPR. For ETNO members is it absolutely necessary to clarify the interplay between GDPR rules and current sector specific rules, especially in the transitory period when the GDPR will be applicable but the future e-Privacy Regulation will not yet be adopted and in force.
GENERAL COMMENTS
Consent is linked to Transparency as transparent information is required for the data subject to understand what he/she is consenting to. Consent must be user-focused and shall not result in confusion or mistrust. In this sense, the concept of consent information by layers is a good example by which companies comply with rules on consent and ensure that data subjects fully understands the proposed data processing and can require additional information if he/she considers it necessary. This provides users with the necessary information in order to comply with the law (freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous consent), but also to offer to those users who want to have additional information to obtain it in an easy and friendly way.
Empowerment is a key element for ETNO members, as companies want:
- to put users in control of their data, strengthening their rights to privacy in line with GDPR and, at the same time,
- to unlock the value of personal data through new digital services that customers are demanding.
The full version of the document is available at this link.