A reflection on the legislative process at EU level when taking into consideration regulation (EU) 2021/1232 of the European Parliament and of the Council

Abstract

One of the targets of the European Union is to have its institutions working harmoniously together and therefore, as a body it is focused on making these institutions more transparent and democratic. This is why laws are enacted through the Ordinary Legislative Procedure, as this creates a system of checks and balances within the legislative institutions. Apart from this, one of the main aims of the EU is to safeguard all its citizens by protecting their fundamental rights and values. Having said this, at the time proposed Regulation 1232/2021 titled ‘on a temporary derogation from certain provisions of Directive 2002/58/EC as regards the use of technologies by providers of number-independent interpersonal communications services for the processing of personal and other data for the purpose of combating online child sexual abuse’ presented by the European Commission was controversial in nature. This aimed to derogate from certain provisions of the e-Privacy Directive which did not achieve the Unions aim to protect fundamental human rights. At this stage the proposal has failed to properly protect the rights enclosed within Article 7 and Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Human Rights of the European Union which protect the right to privacy and the right to protection of personal data. Through the Ordinary Legislative procedure, the co-legislators at the first reading noted that the proposal was significantly lacking sufficient information to protect the rights mentioned above. In light of this, they took matters into their own hands to amend this proposal according to their capacities at law.