EU-28: Adopted Directive 2009/136/EC amending the ePrivacy Directive

The Directive 2009/136/EC amending the Directive 2002/58/EC concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector is adopted by the EU Parliament and the Council of the EU. Particularly, the updated directive requires that the electronic communications service providers that use cookies shall provide clear information about their presence and purpose, get the users' prior consent before installing them and allow the users to withdraw their consent at any time. The obligations to provide information and offer the right to refuse does not apply in situations where cookies are strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the user. The directive obliges telephone service providers to publish transparent and comparable information on prices and tariffs and to allow subscribers to retain their number when they change subscription (number portability). Finally, the directive prescribes the harmonization of emergency call numbers across the EU.