Justice Minister Lord McNally is maintaining a hard line against Brussels ahead of this week’s crucial debate on the overhaul of EU data laws, warning the legislation will cause untold damage to the British economy.
Lord McNally stressed that the Commission’s changes will hurt rather than help the region’s economy, during a Westminster debate.
“The European Commission’s impact assessment estimated it would result in a €2.3bn benefit for the EU economy per annum. We simply do not agree with that assessment. That figure does not cover all the new costs found in the proposed legislations,” said McNally.
“Our assessment, by contrast, includes costs to be incurred by the data protection officer and additional costs to the supervisory committee in the EU, all of which will hurt the economy.” The DMA estimates it could cost UK businesses alone £47bn.
“All this comes at a time when we need to cut the red tape and give the economy a much needed shot in the arm, at a time when we must be thinking about small and medium-sized businesses first,” said McNally.
McNally said that the despite the current draft’s shortcomings, there is still a need for new data protection and privacy legislation.
“An increase in global interdependence has seen personal data come to forefront of most companies agendas, I’ve even heard it described as the new oil. Our response to this change needs to be carefully thought out as it needs to address new challenges,” said McNally.
“We’re not against the EU. We have played an active and positive role, we’ve consulted industry and private groups, we’ve put out our impact assessment. Other states share our concerns.
“The UK government must play a constructive role with the EC and European Parliament in getting this right.”
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McNally piles pressure on EU http://t.co/5CdOtAQU3A