Press releases
European publishers urge European Commission to recognise importance of digital advertising in review of the ePrivacy Directive
With media independence a hot topic across Europe and around the world, European publishers today called on the Juncker Commission to ensure that future “ePrivacy” rules do not needlessly deprive them of a critical revenue stream as they manage the difficult transitional to digital. The publishers are concerned that the current review of the ePrivacy Directive (Directive 2002/58/EC, also known as the ‘Cookie Directive’), may lead to new constraints on low-risk data processing for advertising purposes, including rules that would in effect force them to provide content for free. Over 90 European publishers, brought together by 26 European national Interactive Advertising Bureaus (IABs), IAB Europe and leading European publisher associations EPC (European Publishers Council), NME (News Media Europe), EMMA (European Magazine Media Association) and ENPA (European Newspaper Publishers’ Association), co-signed a letter to Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip and Commissioner Günther Oettinger highlighting their concerns.