On Wednesday, 14 April 2016, the European Parliament adopted the Data Protection Package, which includes:

– the Personal Data Protection Regulation with direct and uniform effect in the 28 Member States. The Regulation will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Its provisions will be directly applicable in all Member States 2 years after that date.

– a directive on the transfer of data for policing and judicial purposes. The directive will apply to the transfer of data across EU borders and will set the minimum standards for data processing for policing purposing in each Member State.  The EU Member States will have 2 years in which to transpose the directive into their national legislation. Because of the special status for legislation on legal and domestic affairs of the United Kingdom and Ireland, the directive will apply solely in a limited manner in those 2 countries. Denmark can decide within 6 months of the directive’s final adoption if it wishes to implement it in Danish national legislation.