Germany’s Chancellor Advocates For Stricter Data Protection Rules

The marketing industry will likely face tougher data protection laws following calls by the German chancellor for more transparency from brands when it comes to data usage, Marketing Week has reported.

In a TV interview over the weekend, the chancellor insisted that member states need to accept stronger pan-European rules as a way of further protecting consumer privacy. Merkel is advocating for harsher data protection terms that will be required from service providers, including Facebook and Google, and will need to be more explicit when explaining how they store and use consumer data.

If Merkel’s plans for introducing a unified data protection policy across the European Union get the green light from member states, all online service providers will have to unify their data policies as well. This could potentially affect the way marketers target their online campaigns because it would restrict their access to valuable private information, the paper noted.

At present, the likes of Facebook and Google are required only to observe data protection rules on a country-by-country basis across the union, where there are wide differences.

In the UK for instance, data protection rules give marketers greater freedom to use data to build their online campaigns, unlike Germany, where laws are much tougher.

In January, the Irish presidency of the EU council presented a new version of data protection regulations, paving the way for the future unification of data protection laws in the EU. The process, however, is subject to hot debate and its outcome is still uncertain.