Privacy, Regulations, and Cybersecurity

CHAPTER 6European Regulations

Three quarters of us don't trust businesses to do the right thing with our emails, phone numbers, preferences and bank details.

I find that shocking!

—Elizabeth Denham, Information Commissioner

Speech to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

January 17, 2017

European Union

The European Union consists of 27 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. There are a number of additional countries in negotiations to join, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Turkey, and others. But EU expansion happens extremely slowly—people have been arguing about Turkey's potential membership since it first applied in 1987.

In 2018, the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) voted to leave the European Union. As of this writing, the UK is in a transition period with the EU, with the new rules governing the relationship being worked out and expected to be in place on January 1, 2021. Scotland has strenuously objected to UK's exit from the EU and continues to press the UK government to find a way for Scotland to remain in the EU. Although that situation remains fluid, for our purposes, it doesn't matter. Even if all of the UK severs its bonds with the EU, they have stated ...