New Data Protection Rules for the Digital Age

The General Data Protection Regulation is the first comprehensive overhaul of data protection legislation in the European Union for more than 20 years. It will repeal and replace the 1995 Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC) and subsequent EU member state implementations of that directive.

As a regulation, the GDPR will be directly applicable in all 28 EU member states. It forms part of a package of reforms that also includes a new Data Protection Directive for the police and criminal justice sector. The regulation is likely to be approved in spring 2016 and will apply two years after entry into force, therefore from spring 2018.