The European Union agreed on Tuesday to carry out a comprehensive reform of laws protecting fragmented data that will force companies to report data breaches, facing huge fines for misuse of personal information.
The new legislation allows national authorities in the EU to impose fines of up to 4 percent of the revenue of companies that violate the law, which could result in the payment of billions of dollars from technology companies like Alphabet, Google , Microsoft and Facebook.
Member states and European lawmakers have been negotiating since June to reach a compromise reform that was proposed by the European Commission four years ago to replace a patchwork of national laws dating from the 1990s.
Politicians called it "a breakthrough".
"Today everything is digital, therefore we need rules governing the huge number of issues and these should be applicable, sensitive and easy to understand for the average user," said Felix Braz, Minister of Justice of Luxembourg, which holds the rotating EU presidency and leading the negotiations on behalf of the member states.
Under the new regulation on data protection, companies face tougher restrictions on how to reuse the data of Europeans, something that will be of particular interest to technology companies that have a list of personal information used for marketing purposes.
The privacy concerns about where the data is stored and how they are used are widespread in Europe, especially after former US consultant NSA Edward Snowden revealed that the authorities of his country gathered information that came directly from technology companies like Apple and Microsoft.
Companies will have to report to national authorities on offenses that may harm people, in 72 hours, something that experts say will reveal the true extent of data breaches in Europe.
RIGHT TO FORGET
Companies will have to obtain an "explicit" consent of the people if they want to use their data have recognized something that will be difficult to manage when it comes to large packets of data-and appoint a dedicated officer to oversee protection issues on Privacy.
The new regulation also establishes the "right to oblivion", that is, give EU citizens the right to be removed from the web the personal information that is obsolete, an issue that caused controversy last year when he urged Google to erase search results appearing in the name of a person.
Those under 16 who wish to register on social networks like Facebook and Twitter may do so only with the consent of their parents, unless a country chooses to lower the threshold to 13 years. Reuters