Apps Face Stricter EU Rules Over Privacy - and Competition

Privacy may be the ostensible reason for the EU's new rules over digital privacy, but the underlying impetus is yet another of the Commission's ongoing attempts to limit the economic and social impact of US-based and owned technology companies.

Unlike the Chinese, who are actually creating innovative new products and services, the Europeans appear creatively stymied when it comes to technology generally and the internet specifically so have chosen to fall back on regulatory impositions as their competitive weapon of choice. JL

Natalia Drozdiak reports in the Wall Street Journal:

The European Commission plans to require internet communications companies to meet stricter privacy and security protections and make it easy for consumers to move their information when switching to other services. Telecom companies have complained that the onus is on them to make costly investments to update the networks, while internet companies use those networks to offer free services such as WhatsApp or  Google Hangouts.
The European Union’s executive body is set to propose more rules for so-called over-the-top telecommunications services such as Microsoft  s Skype or Facebook ’s WhatsApp, in a bid to level the regulatory playing field with the bloc’s big telecom operators.
The European Commission plans to require internet communications companies to meet stricter privacy and security protections and make it easy for consumers to move their information when switching to other services, according to an internal document obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
The document outlines the commission’s preferred policy options for its coming package to update the bloc’s telecom rules, expected in the fall.
Carriers including Deutsche Telekom AG DTEGY -0.52 % and Spain’s Telefónica SA TEF -0.25 % have long asked the European Union to repeal some of the extensive regulations governing carriers, or to extend similar rules to internet-based text-message and voice-call services such as WhatsApp.
Telecom companies have complained that the onus is on them to make costly investments to update the networks, while internet companies use those networks to offer free services such as WhatsApp or Alphabet Inc. GOOGL -0.31 % ’s Google Hangouts.
In the document, the EU says the new obligations for over-the-top services “may entail some additional costs,” but it doesn’t have specific information about the size of the financial burden.
Along with the privacy requirements, over-the-top providers that connect with traditional telephone numbers could face administrative charges, though these would differ among the member states. In Italy, for example, the charges could total roughly 0.2% of annual revenue, according to the document.
Under the new proposals, some internet communications companies could also be required to provide emergency-call services.

Traditional telecom operators, however, likely will be relieved of some administrative burdens, especially where rules overlap, such as those around compliance regarding contractual rights, according to the document.
As part of the EU telecom package, the commission also aims to better coordinate the use of radio spectrum among the bloc’s member states.
In its preferred policy option for spectrum, the EU says it wants to introduce common criteria, binding to all EU member states, around the timing of awards for spectrum allocation and the duration of the licenses. Once the commission makes its proposals, various EU institutions would then debate the draft legislation before it enters into law.