Today, the European Parliament adopted two new laws at first reading to reform data protection in the European Union.

Until now, the EU regulated data protection via a 1995 directive, ill fitted for the modern omnipresence of personal data. The European Commission proposed a new EU framework in the form of two legal texts: a directive and a regulation.

The European Parliament adopted several amendments to these two proposals. They include measures to protect private information relating to individuals’ sexual orientation and gender identity.

MEPs specified that “the processing of personal data, revealing race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation or gender identity […] shall be prohibited” (article 9 in the regulation). Narrow exceptions are foreseen.

Read more at the European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBT Rights official website