FB: New EU laws will fuel legal war

Facebook has warned Brussels chiefs that they will face a lengthy legal battle with many of the world’s biggest brands if they press ahead with plans to fine business 2% of global turnover for data protection law breaches.
The comments were contained in a response to the consultation on the new directive by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner and were published by campaign group Europe v Facebook following a Freedom of Information request.
It also claims that the proposed legislation, contained in the draft General Data Protection Regulation, could also put off businesses from trading in the EU altogether.
“The high level of potential sanctions for breaches of the regulation risks turning relations between companies and regulators into a combative one and may undermine the incentive of Internet companies to invest in the EU,” Facebook said.
“[We are] concerned that the magnitude of potential fines will create a disincentive for innovation and associated job creation among ISPs. This could be a major blow for the EU given that the Internet sector is widely recognised as the major driver of job creation and growth in an otherwise moribund economic environment.
“Moreover, it should be borne in mind that the level of potential sanctions might create a disincentive for open engagement by companies with regulators. A regime that threatens businesses with such heavy fines would imperil this cooperation.”
The company also said the timescale for informing individuals that there had been a breach affecting their personal data was insufficient and warned that the proposed process for notifying data subjects could be both “costly” and “cumbersome”.
A fortnight ago, the UK Government’s Justice Select Committee urged Brussels to ‘go back to the drawing board’ over the proposed changes, in an official response which was welcomed by the DMA.