The European Commission welcomed the adoption of an opinion by the European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) on the Commission’s proposals to reform the EU’s data protection rules. According to the Commission, the ITRE Committee backed the main innovations of the Commission's data protection reform.

The Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) of the European Parliament adopted an opinion on the European Commission’s proposals from January 2012 to reform the EU’s data protection rules which date back to 1995. The Committee’s opinion will now be submitted to the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE), which will consolidate all the amendments submitted so far and vote on its own report at the end of April.

The Commission highlighted that the ITRE Committee backed the main innovations of the data protection reform, i.e. the need to replace the current 1995 Data Protection Directive with a directly applicable Regulation that covers the processing of personal data; The need to have a "one-stop shop" for companies that operate in several EU countries. The Commission's proposal is cutting red tape by introducing a one-stop shop for businesses to deal with regulators; The need for a consistency mechanism that will ensure a uniform application of the EU rules; and the need to pay special attention to Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with for example an exemption from the need to appoint a data protection officer or the duty to put together documentation on their data processing activities.

The right to the protection of personal data is explicitly recognised by Article 8 of the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights and by the Lisbon Treaty. Today, 72% of Internet users are worried that they give away too much personal data. Fading trust in online services and tools holds back the growth of the digital economy and Europe's digital single market. The Commission underlines that its proposals update and modernise the principles enshrined in the 1995 Data Protection Directive to bring them into the digital age. They include a proposal for a Regulation setting out a general EU framework for data protection and a proposal for a Directive on protecting personal data processed for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of criminal offences and related judicial activities.