Having had three public consultations, the European Commission is now preparing a proposal for a new set of rules for the collection and processing of personal data in Europe.

This is sure to have a huge impact on the Direct Marketing industry. There are significant concerns that this will follow the revised Data Protection law that was passed in Germany last September, which could result in increased costs for direct marketers, as well as reductions in the variety and availability of lists for direct marketing activity.

A legal impact assessment has been run by the European Commission before working on the first legislative draft. After several postponements the legislative proposal is now planned to be ready for November 2011. The European Parliament has just adopted a report on Data Protection in the European Union, as part of the preparatory work before the legislative proposal is completed.