The European Commission is listening to suggestions regarding EU laws on privacy and electronic communications (e-Privacy), among which is also the EU Cookie Directive that has made the lives of EU Internet users a living hell.

The EU Commission opened a consultation period Monday last week, April 11, announcing it was seeking views from stakeholders such as businesses and organizations with a strong online presence regarding the existing legal framework that governs user privacy, called the e-Privacy Directive.

The consultation period will remain open until 5 July 2016, after which the Commission plans to initiate legal procedures to update some of the e-Privacy directives.

An update to the EU Cookie Law is more than welcomed

Voted into action in 2002, the e-Privacy Directive, or under its original name of the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications, was updated several times, with the biggest update coming in 2013, when the commission approved the EU Cookie Directive.

Right from the get-go, this particular directive, was met with scorn and criticism by both users and companies, mainly because it didn't do anything for privacy, but actually pestered users with another useless popup.

From the consultation's text, which is nothing more than a survey, one could argue that the EU isn't intent on removing the directive at all, but only making small adjustments. In its current implementation, most companies ask users if they're OK with storing cookies on their PCs and then collecting their data.

One of the questions the Commission asked and is currently looking for an answer is whether companies should be allowed to deny users access to a website if they don't want to accept using cookies.

The EU wants some kind of legislation put in place to force Internet companies to provide alternative websites and Web services that work like the original, but without cookies, while also allowing users to keep their privacy.

European Commission busy with revamping EU data privacy laws

The revamping of the e-Privacy Directive comes as the EU Parliament is about to adopt the new European General Data Protection Regulation (EGDPR), a new law will replace a 21-year-old EU directive regarding how companies activating in the EU are allowed to store and handle user data.

At the end of last year, EU regulators also agreed on the text of the Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive, a law proposal that will force businesses providing essential services to notify authorities of any cyber-incidents.

All these EU regulatory actions show a coordinated effort to safeguard EU citizens from data-slurping companies. Revamping the e-Privacy Directive, and especially the EU Cookie Law will prevent Internet companies from strong-arming users into accepting being tracked via cookies for the benefit of using a Web service.