After agreeing to the amendments made by the European
Parliament at second reading, the Council unanimously (with the United Kingdom
abstaining) adopted the Directive on the protection of individuals with
regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such
data. Member States have three years in which to transpose the Directive into
their national legislation. The Danish delegation made the following
statement to explain how it had voted: ‘Denmark can accept the European
Parliament’s amendments to the Directive and can therefore agree to the
definitive adoption of the Directive by the Council. Denmark nevertheless regrets that
it has not proved possible to reach the consensus needed within the Council
for the European Parliament to be informed of the content of the statements
entered in the minutes. Denmark considers that the request made by the President
of the European Parliament to the President of the Council (General Affairs)
revealed the need to bring to a swift conclusion the current discussions on
the publication of the statements entered in the minutes in the
interests of greater transparency of the work of the Council’.