''In the future, only EU law will be applicable when citizens' data in
the EU will be used, independently of where the company using the data
is based, be it in Germany, Ireland or the USA,'' said Jan Philipp
Albrecht, a member of the European Parliament who led negotiations on
the legislation.
A European Parliament committee has approved sweeping new data
protection rules that would outlaw the kind of data transfers that the
US used for its spying program.
The draft rules were beefed up after American defence contractor Edward Snowden's leaks about US online snooping.
Parliament still needs to hold a plenary vote and seek
agreement with the European Union's 28 member states - which is likely
to result in some changes.
The rules would for the first time create a strong data
protection law for Europe's 500 million citizens, replacing a patchwork
of national rules that only allow for tiny fines.
Supporters have hailed the legislation as a milestone towards genuine online privacy rights.
