ePrivacy Regulation, Preamble 1 to 10.
(1) Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union ("the Charter") protects the fundamental right of everyone to the respect for private and family life, home and communications. Respect for the confidentiality of one’s communications is an essential dimension of this right, applying both to natural and legal persons. Confidentiality of electronic communications ensures that information exchanged between parties and the external elements of such communication, including when the information has been sent, from where, to whom, is not to be revealed to anyone other than to the parties involved in a communication. The principle of confidentiality should apply to current and future means of communication, including calls, internet access, instant messaging applications, e-mail, internet phone calls and personal messaging provided through social media.
(2) The content of electronic communications may reveal highly sensitive information about the natural persons involved in the communication, from personal experiences and emotions to medical conditions, sexual preferences and political views, the disclosure of which could result in personal and social harm, economic loss or embarrassment. Similarly, metadata derived from electronic communications may also reveal very sensitive and personal information. These metadata includes the numbers called, the websites visited, geographical location, the time, date and duration when an individual made a call etc., allowing precise conclusions to be drawn regarding the private lives of the persons involved in the electronic communication, such as their social relationships, their habits and activities of everyday life, their interests, tastes etc.
(2a) Regulation (EU) 2016/679 regulates the protection of personal data. This Regulation protects in addition the respect for private life and communications. The provisions of this Regulation particularise and complement the general rules on the protection of personal data laid down in Regulation (EU) 2016/679. This Regulation therefore does not lower the level of protection enjoyed by natural persons under Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
The provisions particularise Regulation (EU) 2016/679 as regards personal data by translating its principles into specific rules. If no specific rules are established in this Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 should apply to any processing of data that qualify as personal data. The provisions complement Regulation (EU) 2016/679 by setting forth rules regarding subject matters that are not within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, such as the protection of the rights of end-users who are legal persons.
Processing of electronic communications data by providers of electronic communications services and networks should only be permitted in accordance with this Regulation. This Regulation does not impose any obligations on the end-user End-users who are legal persons may have rights conferred by Regulation (EU) 2016/679 to the extent specifically required by this Regulation.
(3) Electronic communications data may also reveal information concerning legal entities, such as business secrets or other sensitive information that has economic value and the protection of which allows legal persons to conduct their business, supporting among other innovation. Therefore, the provisions of this Regulation should in principle apply to both natural and legal persons. Furthermore, this Regulation should ensure that, where necessary, provisions of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council[1], also apply mutatis mutandis to end-users who are legal persons. This includes the definition of provisions on consent under Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
(3a) This Regulation should not affect national law regulating for instance the conclusion or the validity of a contract. Similarly, this Regulation should not affect national law in relation to determining who has the legal power to represent legal persons in any dealings with third parties or in legal proceedings.
(4) Pursuant to Article 8(1) of the Charter and Article 16(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her. Regulation (EU) 2016/679 lays down rules relating to the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and rules relating to the free movement of personal data. Electronic communications data may include personal data as defined in Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
(5) deleted.
(6) While the principles and main provisions of Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council remain generally sound, that Directive has not fully kept pace with the evolution of technological and market reality, resulting in an inconsistent or insufficient effective protection of privacy and confidentiality in relation to electronic communications. Those developments include the entrance on the market of electronic communications services that from a consumer perspective are substitutable to traditional services, but do not have to comply with the same set of rules. Another development concerns new techniques that allow for tracking of online behaviour of end-users, which are not covered by Directive 2002/58/EC. Directive 2002/58/EC should therefore be repealed and replaced by this Regulation.
(7) The Member States should be allowed, within the limits of this Regulation, to maintain or introduce national provisions to further specify and clarify the application of the rules of this Regulation in order to ensure an effective application and interpretation of those rules. Therefore, the margin of discretion, which Member States have in this regard, should maintain a balance between the protection of private life and personal data and the free movement of electronic communications data.
(7a) This Regulation does not apply to the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms related to activities which fall outside the scope of Union law, and in any event measures, processing activities and operations concerning national security and defence, regardless of who is carrying out those operations, whether it is a public authority or a private operator acting at the request of a public authority.
(8) This Regulation should apply to providers of electronic communications services, and to providers of publicly available directories. This Regulation should also apply to natural and legal persons who use electronic communications services to send direct marketing commercial communications or make use of processing and storage capabilities of terminal equipment or collect information processed by or emitted by or stored in end-users’ terminal equipment.
(8aaa) Furthermore, this Regulation should apply regardless of whether the processing of electronic communications data or personal data of end-users who are in the Union takes place in the Union or not, or of whether the service provider or person processing such data is established or located in the Union or not.
(8aa) Some end-users, for example providers of payment services or payment systems, process as recipients their electronic communications data for different purposes or request a third party to process their electronic communications data on their behalf. It is also important that end-users, including legal entities, have the possibility to take the necessary measures to secure their services, networks, employees and customers from security threats or incidents. Information security services may play an important role in ensuring the security of end-users' digital sphere.
For example, an end-user as an information society service provider may process its electronic communications data, or may request a third party, such as a provider of security technologies and services, to process that end-user's electronic communications data on its behalf, for purposes such as ensuring network and information security, including the prevention, monitoring and termination of fraud, unauthorised access and Distributed Denial of Service attacks, or facilitating efficient delivery of website content.
Processing of their electronic communications data by the end-users concerned, or by a third party entrusted by the end-users concerned to process their electronic communications data after receipt on their behalf, is should not be covered by this Regulation. For the purpose of protecting the enduser’s terminal equipment processing upon receipt, including also just before receipt, by a third party entrusted should not be covered by this Regulation.
(8a) This Regulation does not apply to the electronic communications data of deceased persons. Member States may provide for rules regarding the processing of electronic communications data of deceased persons.
(9) deleted.
(10) Radio equipment and its software which is placed on the internal market in the Union, must comply with Directive 2014/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council. This Regulation should not affect the applicability of any of the requirements of Directive 2014/53/EU nor the power of the Commission to adopt delegated acts pursuant to Directive 2014/53/EU requiring that specific categories or classes of radio equipment incorporate safeguards to ensure that personal data and privacy of end-users are protected.
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.