In their letter the broad alliance of associations criticizes the draft of the ePrivacy Regulation currently under discussion in the European Council. With this regulation the EU wants to regulate the analysis and utilization of data from digital communication. The current draft provides for the user's consent to virtually any form of data processing when accessing terminal devices. That would be the end of many digital business models around the energy revolution. Instead, a solution is needed that is congruent with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
bne, together with other German associations, had already drawn attention to this problem at federal level in September 2018 and addressed it in an open letter to the Ministry of Economics. In cooperation with SmartEn and through its strong involvement in European Energy Retailers (EER), bne has now succeeded in bringing together a broad alliance of associations at European level in order to draw attention to the problem and present solutions.