From the Market to the Polis: The EU Directive on the Protection of Personal Data
![handle is hein.journals/ilr80 and id is 459 raw text is: From the Market To the Polis: The EU
Directive on the Protection of Personal
Data
Spiros Simitis*
I. SOURCES AND FOUNDATIONS
On February 20, 1995 the Council of Ministers' of the European
Union unanimously adopted a Common Position2 on a Directive
regulating the processing of personal data.3 Denmark, Greece, Ireland and
the Netherlands had shortly before abandoned their resistance. The last
remaining opponent, the United Kingdom, acknowledged that many of its
criticisms had been taken into account and therefore decided to abstain.
Two years of intensive discussions in the Council of Ministers thus ended.
In the near future, the European Parliament will debate the Directive,4
and by June of 1995, the text will return to the Council of Ministers with
proposed changes for final deliberation.! The Directive is expected to be
adopted within a year. The European Council's6 wish, first expressed in
June 1994 at its meeting in Corfu, Greece, and reaffirmed in December
1994 in Essen, Germany, to create a clear and stable regulatory
framework and to set an example,7 will be fulfilled.
* Professor of Law, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitit, Frankfurt am Main.
1. The Council of Ministers consists of a representative of each Member State at the
ministerial level. Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community (EEC Treaty] art.
146, as amended by Treaty on European Union, Feb. 7, 1992, art. G, 31 I.LM. 247, 256
[hereinafter Maastricht Treaty]. For further detals, see George A. Bermann et al., Cases and
Materials on European Community Law 51 (1993).
2. The Council of Ministers acting by a qualified majority must after obtaining the
opinion of the European Parliament adopt a Common Position on regulatory acts proposed
by the Commission. EEC Treaty art. 189b, as amended by the Maastricht Treaty, supra note 1,
art. G, 31 I.LM. at 256.
3. Amended Proposal for a Council Directive on the Protection of Individuals with
Regard to the Processing of Personal Data and on the Free Movement of Such Data, 1992 O.J.
(C 310) 38 [hereinafter 1992 Draft]. According to EEC Treaty art. 189, as amended by the
Maastricht Treaty, supra note 1, art. G, 31 LL.M. at 256, a directive is binding as to the
result, but leaves the choice of form and methods to the Member States. See also Bermann et
al., supra note 1, at 74, 182.
4. EEC Treaty art. 189b, para. 2, as amended by Maastricht Treaty, supra note 1, art. G, 31
I.L.M. at 256.
5. Id. art. 189b, paras. 2-3.
6. The European Council [EC] consists of the Heads of State or the Governments of
the Member States and meets at least twice a year. Maastricht Treaty, supra note 1, art. D, 31
LLM. at 255. See also Bermann et al., supra note 1, at 55.
7. See Presidency conclusions: Corfu 24 & 25 June 1994, SN 150/94, at 11; Presidency](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ilr80&div=26&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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From the Market to the Polis: The EU Directive on the Protection of Personal Data
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