The 'datafication' of everyday life and various data scandals have made the protection of personal data an increasingly important social, legal and political topic for the European Union (EU). Privacy and data protection are recognised as fundamental rights in EU law and were strengthened when the Lisbon Treaty came into force in 2009, giving the EU a stronger legal basis for updating its data protection and privacy system. In 2012, the European Commission began reforming the outdated framework. This led to the adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Law Enforcement Directive, along with updates to EU institutional data protection rules, in 2016 and 2018. The European Parliament played a key role in these reforms, both as co-legislator and author of own initiative reports and resolutions, seeking to guarantee a high level of data protection for EU citizens. The Court of Justice of the EU further developed the EU data protection framework through case law. Nevertheless, new concerns have emerged under the updated data protection framework. These relate to shortcomings in GDPR enforcement, tensions between compliance and competitiveness, difficulties in reconciling security-related data access with privacy protection, and the risk of overburdening small and medium-sized enterprises with compliance requirements. In response, EU lawmakers adopted GDPR procedural rules for cross-border cases, and introduced a temporary derogation from the e-Privacy Directive to combat online child sexual abuse. Meanwhile, the Commission has proposed a permanent framework intended to replace the temporary rules, and a digital omnibus regulation easing certain data protection requirements in support of competitiveness and artificial intelligence development. It also appears to be preparing a legislative initiative on data retention. This is a further updated edition of a briefing originally written in 2020 by Sofija Voronova and previously updated most recently in 2025. Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP Read more