We are following the progress of the proposed EU Regulation on Data Protection very closely.
While the MEPs voted overwhelmingly for a set of proposals which would outlaw list broking, cold telemarketing and cold mailing to named contacts, the Ministers of Justice & Home Affairs from each of the 27 EU nations are taking a more business-friendly, risk-based approach. They met on 10 October to agree their own set of proposals. They will meet again in January 2015 to try to reach agreement on the issue of the 'right to be forgotten'.
When the Ministers of Justice & Home Affairs have reached agreement, then the three-way negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission begin. This is likely to happen in the second half of 2015.
According to the DMA (Direct Marketing Association), this progress means that the Regulation could be passed into EU law by late 2015. The UK then has two years to implement the law, which means that the Regulation could be enforced in the UK by late 2017 or more likely, early 2018.
To increase the uncertainty of what may happen in direct marketing, David Cameron has promised an 'in/out referendum' on Britain's membership of the EU before 2018. It seems unlikely, but by 2018 we might be negotiating our way out of the EU.
To read the full text of the DMA's article, written by solicitor James Milligan, see here.