No 18 (October 99/Octobre 99/Oktober 99)

The European Commission has decided to send reasoned opinions to France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Spain and Austria for failure to notify all the measures necessary to implement the Directive on the protection of personal data (95/46/EC).

The data protection Directive, which entered into effect on 25 October 1998, establishes a clear and stable regulatory framework to ensure both a high level of protection for the privacy of individuals in all Member States and the free movement of personal data within the European Union (see SMN 14). By fostering consumer confidence and minimising differences between Member States' data protection rules, the Directive facilitates the development of electronic commerce. The Directive also establishes rules to ensure that personal data is only transferred to countries outside the EU when its continued protection is guaranteed, so as to ensure that the high standards of protection introduced by the Directive within the EU are not undermined.
Greece, Portugal, Sweden, Italy, Belgium and Finland have notified measures which implement the Directive in full. Denmark and the United Kingdom have notified measures partially implementing the Directive, but still need to adopt some additional national measures to complete their implementation. All other Member States are still in the process of adopting implementing measures. The full conformity with the Directive of the measures adopted and notified remains to be verified.In any case, individuals are entitled to invoke some of the Directive's provisions before national courts, in accordance with the case law of the Court of Justice (Marleasing case, C-106/89, 13.11.90). In addition, individuals suffering damage as a result of a Member State's failure to implement the Directive are in some cases entitled to seek compensation before national courts, under the terms of the Court of Justice's case law in the Francovich case (C-6/90 and C-9/90, 19.11.91).

Additional information concerning the data protection Directive is available from the Internet: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/en/media/dataprot/index.htm

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