European Union: European Commission announced work programme including withdrawal of ePrivacy Regulation containing data governance measures

On 11 February 2025, the European Commission announced a work programme withdrawing the proposal for regulation concerning the respect for private life and the protection of personal data in electronic communications and repealing the Directive 2002/58/EC (ePrivacy Directive). The commission highlighted that no agreement was expected from the co-legislators. It also specified that the proposal became outdated in light of recent developments in both the technological and legislative landscapes. The proposal complemented the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by detailing the cases in which the providers of electronic communications can process, store and erasure data, metadata and electronic communications content. It proposed that any user can withdraw its consent from data processing and storage (opt-out). It also provided that websites can no longer use legitimate interest as the basis for installing cookies, the only basis to use them without consent is for providing a service requested by the user, for transmitting a piece of communication in an electronic communications network or for security reasons.