ePrivacy Regulation, Article 4, Definitions.
1. For the purposes of this Regulation, following definitions shall apply:
(a) the definitions in Regulation (EU) 2016/679;
(b) the definitions of ‘electronic communications network’, ‘electronic communications service’, ‘interpersonal communications service’, ‘number-based interpersonal communications service’, ‘number-independent interpersonal communications service’, ‘end-user’ and ‘call’ in paragraphs (1), (4), (5), (6), (7), (14) and (31) respectively of Article 2 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972;
(c) the definition of 'terminal equipment' in Article 1(1) of Commission Directive 2008/63/EC;
(d) the definition of ‘information society service’ in point (b) of Article 1 (1) of Directive (EU) 2015/1535.
2. For the purposes of this Regulation, the definition of ‘interpersonal communications service’ referred to in point (b) of paragraph 1 shall include services which enable interpersonal and interactive communication merely as a minor ancillary feature that is intrinsically linked to another service.
2a. For the purposes of this Regulation, the definition of 'processing' referred to in Article 4 (2) of Regulation 2016/679 shall not be limited to processing of personal data.
3. In addition, for the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:
(a) ‘electronic communications data’ means electronic communications content and electronic communications metadata;
(b) ‘electronic communications content’ means the content exchanged by means of electronic communications services, such as text, voice, videos, images, and sound;
(c) ‘electronic communications metadata’ means data processed by means of electronic communications services for the purposes of transmitting, distributing or exchanging electronic communications content; including data used to trace and identify the source and destination of a communication, data on the location of the device generated in the context of providing electronic communications services, and the date, time, duration and the type of communication;
(d) ‘publicly available directory’ means a directory of end-users of number-based interpersonal communications services, whether in printed or electronic form, which is published or made available to the public or to a section of the public, including by means of a directory enquiry service and the main function of which is to enable identification of such end-users;
(e) ‘electronic message’ means any message containing information such as text, voice, video, sound or image sent over an electronic communications network which can be stored in the network or in related computing facilities, or in the terminal equipment of its recipient, including e-mail, SMS, MMS and functionally equivalent applications and techniques;
(f) ‘direct marketing communications’ means any form of advertising, whether written or oral, sent via a publicly available electronic communications service directly to one or more specific end-users, including the placing of voice-tovoice calls, the use of automated calling and communication systems with or without human interaction, electronic message etc.;
(g) ‘direct marketing voice-to-voice calls’ means live calls, which do not entail the use of automated calling systems and communication systems;
(h) ‘automated calling and communication systems’ means systems capable of automatically initiating calls to one or more recipients in accordance with instructions set for that system, and transmitting sounds which are not live speech, including calls made using automated calling and communication systems which connect the called person to an individual;
(i) 'direct marketing calls' means direct marketing voice-to-voice calls and calls made via automated calling and communication systems for the purpose of direct marketing.
(j) ‘location data’ means data processed by means of an electronic communications network or service, indicating the geographic position of the terminal equipment of a user of a publicly available electronic communications service;
Note: This is not the final text of the ePrivacy Regulation. This is the text of the ePrivacy Regulation Proposal of the Council of the European Union from 10.2.2021.