- The European Parliament (EP) is the legislative body of the European Union (EU). It shares co-legislative powers with the Council of European Union.
- A true democracy: “The Members of the European Parliament are directly elected by voters in all Member States to represent people’s interests with regard to EU law-making and to make sure other EU institutions are working democratically.“
- 705 Members of Parliament (MEPs) representing 27 EU member states elected directly by EU voters for a term period of 5 years.
- Broad range of powers that include:
- Legislative – EP shares powers alongside the the Council of the European Union to debate, adopt, and amend legislation.
- Budgetary – EP shares budgetary powers with the Council of the European Union to decide entire EU budget.
- Supervisory – EP supervises the EU Commission (the executive arm of the EU), and other EU institutions and bodies.
- National parliaments: EP cooperates with national parliaments of member states for interparliamentary cooperation.
- Significance for Data Protection:
- European Parliament and the Council of European Union were co-legislators (i.e. wrote the text) of the GDPR.
Introduction to European Data Protection European Union Institutions
European Parliament
- The Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with Regard to the Automatic Processing of Personal Data of 1981 (The CoE Convention)
- The EU Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC)
- The EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58/EC) (ePrivacy Directive) – as amended
- The EU Directive on Electronic Commerce (2000/31/EC)
- European data retention regimes
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