A milestone has been reached in the world of data protection law.  After three years of detailed discussions political agreement has been reached between the European Commission, Council and Parliament on the final text of the General Data Protection Regulation (the GDPR).

 

The GDPR will replace the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and therefore the UK Data Protection Act 1998 and will be directly applicable in all Member States without the need for implementing legislation.  The legislative process will be complete once the text is formally adopted by Council and Parliament, which expected in the coming months.  The GDPR will come into effect two years from formal adoption and is therefore anticipated to take place in the first half of 2018. Further detail about the key features of the GDPR is provided here.