Earlier today, the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) discussed the draft legislation prepared by Labour Party deputy leader and MEP Alex Agius Saliba, who is the Parliament’s lead negotiator on the Data Omnibus, the Labour Party said Friday.
This new law aims to consolidate existing legislation into a single legislative framework and also proposes amendments to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which governs the protection of personal data for individuals and businesses.
“While simplifying data rules is a positive step, I have reservations about weakening enforcement at the heart of Europe’s digital regulations. I strongly opposed reducing GDPR protections by allowing our personal data to be used for training artificial intelligence models. The European Union has set a global standard for protecting these rights in the digital age, and there should be no compromise on this,” Agius Saliba stated.
MEP Alex Agius Saliba also stressed that the proposed rules governing the use of cookie banners are not effective enough and need to be strengthened. He argued that it is important for consumers to be able to give their consent through their browser settings. At the same time, he highlighted the need to ensure appropriate conditions and safeguards so that companies such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft are not granted even greater power and control. Under all circumstances, citizens should have the power to decide whether they want to give consent.
Likewise, if they later wish to withdraw that consent, they should not have to deal with unnecessary bureaucracy or be confronted with repetitive and intrusive cookie banner requests. “If we want to give citizens greater opportunities to control their personal data, we must make the process easier for them, because it remains far too complex today. That is why I proposed the concept of a Data Expert Representative, who could act on your behalf, support you, inform you about your rights, and ultimately negotiate better terms with the major technology companies. Today, there is a clear imbalance of power between ordinary citizens and these enormous companies, and we must find ways to restore that balance in favour of those who use online services,” said Alex Agius Saliba.
In addition to data-related issues, the Data Omnibus proposal also provides for the repeal of the Platform-to-Business (P2B) Regulation. These rules, adopted in 2019, were the first to address the rights of small businesses in their dealings with online platforms, before the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) came into force.
MEP Agius Saliba opposed the repeal of the Platform-to-Business Regulation, arguing that doing so would reduce the level of protection available to small and medium-sized enterprises operating online