In November, the Commission unveiled its “digital omnibus” plan, part of a broader revision of data and AI laws aimed at enhancing AI technology in Europe. This initiative is one of ten proposed by Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission to reduce bureaucracy and enhance European competitiveness.
A new document, dated February 20, was prepared by the current EU Council presidency held by Cyprus, serving as a basis for member states to negotiate a unified stance on privacy reforms.
Cyprus targeted a key amendment to the data protection framework: the definition of personal data. If accepted, this change would exclude large amounts of data from privacy protection.
The revision attempts to align the GDPR with a recent EU top court ruling (SRB v EDPS), stating that sometimes “pseudonymized” data, which conceals personal details, could fall outside GDPR’s strict privacy measures.
This change would particularly benefit companies, including AI developers, who could use pseudonymized data more freely, provided they cannot reasonably re-identify individuals.
The amendments have faced resistance from European privacy regulators, who recently warned against altering the definition, and have divided EU nations that opposed the reform in initial position papers.
However, European tech and business lobby groups have supported the Commission’s proposed reforms, praising efforts to unlock more data for AI innovation.
EU countries will review the text on February 27 at a meeting dedicated to the EU’s simplification efforts. Meanwhile, in the European Parliament, legislators are working on an initial position on the GDPR reforms.
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