This book examines the role of the EU in ensuring privacy and data protection on the internet.
It describes and demonstrates the importance of privacy and data protection for our democracies
and how the enjoyment of these rights is challenged by particularly big data and mass
surveillance. The book takes the perspective of the EU mandate under Article 16 TFEU. It
analyses the contributions of the specific actors and roles within the EU framework: the
judiciary the EU legislator the independent supervisory authorities the cooperation
mechanisms of these authorities as well as the EU as actor in the external domain. Article 16
TFEU enables the Court of the Justice of the EU to play its role as constitutional court and to
set high standards for fundamental rights protection. It obliges the European Parliament and
the Council to lay down legislation that encompasses all processing of personal data. It
confirms control by independent supervisory authorities as an essential element of data
protection and it gives the EU a strong mandate to act in the global arena. The analysis shows
that EU powers can be successfully used in a legitimate and effective manner and that this
subject could be a success story for the EU in times of widespread euroskepsis. It
demonstrates that the Member States remain important players in ensuring privacy and data
protection. In order to be a success story the key stakeholders should be prepared to go the
extra mile so it is argued in the book. The book is based on academic research for which the
author received a double doctorate at the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit
Brussels. It builds on a long inside experience within the European institutions as well as
within the community of data protection and data protection authorities. It is a must read in a
time where the setting of EU privacy and data protection is changing dramatically not only as
a result of the rapidly evolving information society but also because of important legal
developments such as the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation. This book
will appeal to all those who are in some way involved in making this regulation work. It will
also appeal to people interested in the institutional framework of the European Union and in
the role of the Union of promoting fundamental rights also in the wider world.
