Data Protection Directive

The 1995 European Union directive (Directive 95/46/EC) that established the original EU framework for data protection, requiring member states to transpose its provisions into national law. The Data Protection Directive was groundbreaking, establishing principles like purpose limitation, data minimization, individual rights, and restrictions on international transfers that influenced privacy laws worldwide. However, directive implementation varied across EU member states, creating inconsistency. The directive was replaced by GDPR in May 2018, which as a regulation applies directly across the EU without national transposition. The directive remains historically significant as the foundation of modern European privacy law and the predecessor to GDPR. Many GDPR concepts trace back to the directive, though GDPR strengthened protections, enhanced rights, increased penalties, and created greater consistency across Europe.