Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Kunčinas said that the EU Council was currently discussing draft personal data regulations and directives.
"These are the two documents aimed at updating the existing protection of personal data in all areas of EU operations. The EU is currently presided over by Ireland, and the work in the task force, which involves our colleagues, have accelerated considerably, this is probably due to deadlines. As there are plans to approve the documents in the second half of this year, i.e., during Lithuania's presidency, Lithuania will have the honor and, at the same time, a great challenge of seeing to successful approval of the documents," Kunčinas said.
In his words, the regulation should take effect two years after approval.
Kunčinas said that the regulation would unify the legal status of institutions in charge of protection of personal data across the EU, as well as introduce “the same level” of fines for violations in the field of personal data protection.
"In Lithuania, the fines are up to 1,200 litas (EUR 348) but amount to dozens of thousands of euros in the EU, while Estonia and some other countries even envisage criminal liability," he added.
