How can we simplify legal/business language? ... Any ideas?

Remember the post "Write as if you were writing it for your Grandma - tips on simplifying legal language" about the TED presentation of Sandra Fisher-Martins "The right to understand". Well, she's back on TED and open to reply any questions or comments that you may have. If you are interested in simplifying legal/business language, have examples of how that happens in the country you live or you have ideas how that might happen in the future - share them on the TED conversation website: "How can we simplify legal/business language?".

Online you reveal more than you think

Why data protection online is so important?

EU data protection reform announced

As mentioned yesterday ("EU data protection reform") the European Commission proposed today a comprehensive reform of the EU rules on data protection from 1995 ("Commission proposes a comprehensive reform of data protection rules to increase users' control of their data and to cut costs for businesses"). The main reason for the new proposal is that in the past 17 years many things has changed as far as internet and online privacy is concerned.

"17 years ago less than 1% of Europeans used the internet. Today, vast amounts of personal data are transferred and exchanged, across continents and around the globe in fractions of seconds," said EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding, the Commission’s Vice-President. "The protection of personal data is a fundamental right for all Europeans, but citizens do not always feel in full control of their personal data. My proposals will help build trust in online services because people will be better informed about their rights and in more control of their information. The reform will accomplish this while making life easier and less costly for businesses. A strong, clear and uniform legal framework at EU level will help to unleash the potential of the Digital Single Market and foster economic growth, innovation and job creation."

The main points of the proposed regulations have been mentioned in the blog post from yesterday. The proposed legislative acts are as follows: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation) and Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, and the free movement of such data (Directive). More information may be found at the Data Protection website or at the Q&A website.

EU data protection reform

Tomorrow, the European Commission is supposed to present new proposals for laws regulating data protection rules. While we are waiting for the suggested texts of a regulation and a directive, certain 'leaks' as to their scope have already been made public (see e.g. "The EU Data Protection Reform 2012: Making Europe the Standard Setter for Modern Data Protection Rules in the Digital Age", as well as "EU proposes 'right to be forgotten' by internet firms").

According to Commissioner Reding, the new regulation will simplify the regulatory environment and drastically cut red tape. The plan is to delete any general notification requirements and replace them with general responsibility and accountability of companies for the protection of personal data in their business field. This means that the companies will need to appoint a data protection officer within their company who will be responsible for handling such complaints. This is expected to generate savings of ca. 130 million euro a year. Moreover, the companies who conduct business in many Member States will need to comply with the legal requirements for data protection for only one Member State and will deal with only one data protection authority - the one applicable for the Member State in which the main seat of the company is located. According to Commissioner Reding, all data protection authorities in the EU will have the same adequate tools and powers so it will not matter which of them the businesses will need to deal with. The plan is also to simplify international data transfers, since if a company has their binding corporate rules as far as data protection is concerned approved by one data protection authority, they will be recognised by all such authorities in the EU (no further national authorisation).

As far as protection of consumers' data is concerned the Commissioner mentions the need for the information about the processing of their data in simple and clear language. Such information shall contain details as to which data is collected, for what purposes, how long it will be stored and with which third parties it will be shared. Consumers should also be notified with which authority they should get in touch in case their rights are violated. This is supposed to give control to the internet users over which data they reveal and to whom. Such an informed consumer may consent to give his personal data for further processing - the consent should be specific and given explicitly. Moreover, the internet users should have a power to have their data moved from one service provider to another, and to have their data deleted. This right to be forgotten is interesting, due to many fears that if you share something via your social network, e.g. Facebook, it will be forever linked to you, even if you chose to delete a given photo or information at a later date. Commissioner Reding underlines that it should be a consumer's right not just a possibility to withdraw his consent to the processing of the personal data they have given previously. Additionally, in case of a data breach, i.e. data being lost, stolen or hacked, there will be a general obligation placed on the data controllers to notify such a data breach to data protection authorities and to the individuals concerned without undue delay (which seems to mean 24 hours).

Let us see what the language of the proposals will be and what further will be changed in the negotiations on these regulations.

Scenting... new regulations

A new public consultation of European Commission's Health and Consumers Scientific Committees caught my attention. Namely, on the preliminary opinion on fragrance allergens in cosmetic products. My interest is not surprising since I'm one of the 1-3% of Europeans that are allergic to various fragrances. I wasn't aware, however, that European Commission was doing anything about it that could influence me and others with the same problem.

It is a problem, indeed, since from the moment you find out that you are allergic to fragrances you need to change a big chunk of your daily habits (I'm trying to avoid here the cliche: "you need to change your whole life"). You may think that you just throw out any perfumes that you previously had but unfortunately, it has to go way deeper than that. You basically need to exchange all cosmetic products (whether shampoo, soap, creams, make-up, hair products etc.), all detergents that you use in your house (washing liquids, cleaning detergents, dishwasher powders etc.) for the ones without fragrances. Non-perfumed products are not always easy to find, more expensive, and with less choice among them. It's been two years since I was diagnosed and I still haven't found a shampoo and hair conditioner, that I'd be satisfied with.

So what does the European Commission plan to do about that? Apparently, in 1999 26 well-recognised fragrance allergens were identified on a European level, which means that they need to be listed individually on the labels of products in which they are included (cosmetics, detergents, toys - according to specific directives regulating marketing of these products). Consumers (like me) may then read (patiently) the long list of ingredients and when they see these fragrances on the list, they know that they should avoid a particular product. Since in the past 10 years the knowledge of fragrance allergens significantly increased, a new review has been prepared. The review: identifies again fragrance ingredients which are established contact allergens; considers the possibility to establish safe use levels for fragrance allergens reported to pose high risks to consumers.

You may submit comments to the preliminary opinion through this website until 17 February 2012.

Don't ____________ the internet!

I mentioned yesterday the controversial project of a bill Protect IP ("Protect IP"). In protest to this bill (as well as the draft of the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and the European Parliament's initiative Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)) many websites announced that they are 'going dark' in protest today. They object to the intention of the governments and private parties to censor the net in the name of the copyright protection. Among the websites that announced they'd join the process are: Wikipedia, Wordpress.org, Twitpic, La Quadrature du Net etc.

Protect IP

Protect IP (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011) is a bill that is under discussions now in the US Congress. If passed it would give government and corporations (copyright holders) permission to censor the internet in order to protect the intellectual property rights. If they could prove that a particular website was 'dedicated to copyright infringement' then the American judge would be able to censor that website, even if it was registered outside the US. How it works further you may see on this video:

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

The vote in the Senate is scheduled for January 24, 2012. The result of this vote may influence also European business and consumers since it is difficult to perceive any such internet content control measures as national only.

New Presidency – New EU’s Health Strategy

It is common knowledge that health is important for the wellbeing of individuals, but a healthy population is also a prerequisite for economic productivity and prosperity... In 2005, Healthy Life Years (HLY) was included as a Lisbon Structural Indicator, to underline that the population's life expectancy in good health – not just length of life – was a key factor for economic growth.

In 2007 the EU launched a strategy for public health - “Together for health: a strategic approach for the EU 2008-2013”, which is to tackle the more widespread challenges to public health such as an ageing population, cross-border health threats and life-style related diseases. Its purposes focus on fostering good health in an ageing Europe, protecting citizens from health threats, supporting dynamic health systems and new technologies. The EU has developed a programme for health, which is the main instrument to implement objectives of the Health Strategy. As it expires in 2013, the future of the EU’s Health Strategy will be on the agenda during the Danish Presidency of the Council. What can we expect during the Danish Presidency, in particular, fighting cross-border health threats, patients’ access to treatment in other EU Member States as well as regulation of tobacco products, medical products and medical devices.

Look-alikes

Just a short note that the European Commission published today a study on the existing national legal protection measures against "parasitic copying" (Hogan Lovells Final Report on Parasitic Copying for the European Commission). What is parasitic copying, you might ask? It is a practice of marketing products ("parasitic copies", "look-alikes" or "slavish imitations") which are designed to resemble and look like pre-existing products of well-established and well-known brands. Competitors of well-known brands use it to confuse and mislead consumers, as well as to boost their own sales, therefore getting a free ride on someone else's hard work. The study's conclusion is: Member States differ vastly as to the legal measures that parties may take against such marketing practices. This is unfortunate taking into account that the aim of this practice is clearly to confuse consumers and make them associate two competing products, clearly constituting and example of a potential unfair commercial practice. Both consumers as well as competitors should have access to clear and consistent measures to fight with these practices in the EU.

Below are examples of possible parasite (misleading) packaging taken from a report of British Brands Group organization of 2010.

Work to do for the EU. The plans of the Danish Presidency for the first half of 2012

It’s the start of a new year, and with the beginning of 2012 we also enter into a new Presidency for the EU. For the next six months it is up to Denmark to set the course for European policies. Last Friday, 6 January, the Danish Presidency presented its plans for the first half of 2012 under the title ‘Europe at Work’.

What can we expect? Perhaps not surprisingly, the most urgent matters for EU policy relate to the ongoing crisis: ‘The paramount task will be to emerge safely from the current deep crisis in the EU, to ensure economic stability and to create the foundation for future growth and employment. At the same time, Europe must address new cross-border challenges relating to i.a. climate, energy, environment and security.’ (p. 4).

How to get there? The Danes will be working with Herman van Rompuy (permanent President of the European Council) and Catherine Ashton (High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy), and they also coordinate their actions with the previous Presidency of Poland and the upcoming Presidency of Cyprus in a so-called trio presidency. In that institutional context, the programme sets the following goals: ‘The Danish Presidency will work for a strong European economy, revitalized growth in the EU and for a stronger EU that effectively addresses the problems that occupy Europe’s citizens and enterprises on a daily basis. We will unite and strengthen the EU by delivering concrete results that demonstrate the value of European cooperation.’ (p. 4).

To achieve those results, the programme of the Danish Presidency focuses on four main areas:
- A responsible Europe: focus on the European economy, financial regulation and supervision;
- A dynamic Europe: focus on revitalizing the single market (including a digital single market), a competitive market for knowledge, sustainable growth and development, the future of the labour market, and trade policy;
- A green Europe: focus on a ‘greener’ Europe, with particular attention for energy and climate policy, agriculture and fisheries policies, and transport;
- A safe Europe: focus on safety in a broad range of aspects, e.g. cross-border crime, migration policy, food safety, and disaster response.

Not surprisingly, the word that appears to come up most often in the document is ‘cooperation’. Europe can’t do it alone. Internal cooperation as well as cooperation with neighbouring countries is vital for ensuring the future of the EU and the welfare of its citizens.

‘Europe at work’ indeed… For all consumer related issues, we will keep an eye on what is happening and keep you posted on this blog. Updates can also be found on the Danish Presidency’s own website: http://eu2012.dk/en.