A panel of experts appointed by Google to advise it on how to implement an EU ruling ordering it to remove links to some personal information from search results has backed the company's view that links be removed only from websites in Europe. That puts the so-called Advisory Council at odds with the European Union's data protection regulators who said at the end of last year that Google should remove links worldwide, including from Google.com. Google set up its eight-member panel last year to draw up a report, published on Friday, on how to implement the surprise "right to be forgotten" ruling from the European Court of Justice in May. The conclusion had been expected. The report is non-binding and carries no legal weight. The panel, which includes a former German justice minister and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, concluded that Google should only remove links to personal information deemed inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant from its European websites, such as Google.de in Germany or Google.fr in France. "It concludes that removal from nationally directed versions of Google’s search services within the EU is the appropriate means to implement the ruling at this stage," the council said in the report.

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--- Reuters