When complex digital rules such as the GDPR apply all the same to big tech and local news publishers, regardless of size or actual risks, this creates a deeply unfair situation. And so today’s proposals are about making sure that EU rules are based on common sense, and making Europe a better place to do business.

News Media Europe supports the European Commission’s proposals to simplify several aspects of the GDPR, recognising it as a crucial initiative to ensure that EU rules remain coherent and proportionate. This will allow essential services like independent news publishing, whose core mission is to inform the public, to thrive without having to face excessive burdens.

Iacob Gammeltoft said “A modern rulebook should avoid a one size fits all approach. The EU needs to shift away from rules that are anchored in burdensome procedures towards outcomes based processes, which take into account the capacity of different actors to comply.”

The Omnibus can be the tool that corrects these regulatory asymmetries that undermine, rather than help, the free press and the digital economy in Europe.

Publishers are keen to see revised data protection rules that focus on high-risk processing only, reducing the need for complicated data protection impact assessments, and which contribute to reducing consent fatigue.

Publishers urge the Members of the European Parliament and governments to build on the proposed Digital Omnibus with ambition, to secure digital rules that are truly fit for a competitive and independent European media sector.

Contact: Iacob Gammeltoft