Recent developments in data protection at European Union level

This article gives an overview of the main developments in data protection at European Union level. It discusses the impact of the Lisbon Treaty, as well as some elements of the Stockholm Programme and two public consultations by the Commission on a future framework for data protection within the European Union and on the usefulness of an agreement with the United States on data protection principles to be applied on transatlantic exchanges. Finally, it explains two recent Court cases of significance for data protection. On 2 March 2010 the German Federal Constitutional Court (the 'Bundesverfassungsgericht') ruled on the legality of the retention of telecommunications data and on 9 March 2010 the European Court of Justice specified the criteria for the independence of data protection authorities under European Union law. © 2010 ERA.