(LONDON) The draft of the new Data Protection Regulation, the first EU privacy law with highly serious teeth in the form of fines based on global turnover, continues to wend its way through various committees of the European Parliament (EP).  The European Parliament recently pushed back a critical committee vote until May 29-30, when the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee will have its say on the draft Regulation.

Powerful EP and outside lobbies are backing major changes to the Regulation – some of which are fundamentally opposed to each other.  Over three thousand amendments to the Regulation have been proposed by the European Parliament alone.  EU and foreign companies continue to lobby for changes to the proposed Regulation, and the UK ICO, an important voice from the “inside” of the debate, continues to call for a more pragmatic approach.  Yet Jan Phillip Albrecht, MEP and one of the leading advocates for the Regulation, remains confident that agreement will be reached within the European Parliament.  When that happens, all that will remain is for the European Parliament and the Council to reach agreement on the text of the Regulation – and then it will become law.