At a recent meeting of EU telecom ministers in Luxembourg, Denmark’s digital minister, Caroline Stage, made headlines by calling the GDPR a “digital elephant in the room.” Her message was clear: the current data protection regime is too complex and burdensome, especially for European businesses.
Denmark is now urging a reform of the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, including the abolition of cookie banners in cases where cookies are used only for statistical or functional purposes. This would mark a significant shift in the EU’s approach to digital regulation.
Importantly, Stage emphasized that simplification doesn't mean weakening protections—but rather making them more effective and less intrusive. “Cookie fatigue” and excessive compliance costs are no longer acceptable trade-offs in a rapidly evolving digital economy.
With Denmark taking over the EU Council presidency from July to December 2025, this initiative is poised to gain traction. Simplification of digital rules will be high on the agenda—and could reshape how data-driven companies operate in Europe.
For FEBIS members, this is a development to watch closely. It represents a rare opportunity to advocate for clearer, more proportionate rules that support both data innovation and legal certainty.
Source: MLex
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Luis Carmona (Sunday, 13 July 2025 12:54)
By questioning the practicality of the current treatment emanating from the GDPR, the Danish Presidency of the EU offers a timely opportunity for the business information industry to push for a more balanced regulatory environment.
- Current operational burdens—starting by excessive cookie consent layers—undermine user experience and data utility. We want protected and digitized scenarios that will bring competitiveness to our companies.
- Restrictions in access to Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) data that remains fragmented and overly complex, limiting transparency and AML efforts. All economic players, in their commercial transactions, should reach this information as an essential tool to combat AML and financial crime.
- Very critically, Spain’s restrictive stance on sole trader data, due to a narrow interpretation of legitimate interest (LI), has created a “de facto” blackout on the necessary sole traders’ data. This is paradoxical: the sole trader is the first and most legitimate stakeholder in their own business visibility, as they need to get rapid credit and insurance in their vulnerable position of lacking financial strength.
Our industry must advocate for a harmonized EU framework that recognizes LI as a valid basis for processing professional data. This includes restoring access to sole trader information where it serves economic transparency and creditworthiness. A transparent and clean transmission of this data should be facilitated, swiftly, to favor every economic agent.
As referred above, the Danish Presidency should also support streamlined digital compliance tools and cross-border data access, that should include harmonized access to UBOs.
A pragmatic, innovative-friendly approach is essential to empower SMEs, fight fraud, and enable responsible AI efficiency. The business information sector is ready to collaborate. Let’s make, all together, this Presidency a big push for smarter regulation and sustainable data ecosystems.