ICO issues additional guidance on Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR)
By Privacy Counsel What is PECR? In February of this year, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), or UK’s Data Protection Regulator, published additional guidance on the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) , initially passed in 2003, on applying PECR to the DPA. How does PECR apply? There is frequently a lot of discussion around the e-Privacy Directive ( Directive 2009/136/EC ) and very little surrounding the UK. Although the UK is no longer part of the EU, it has adopted a GDPR national privacy law, The Data Protection Act (DPA). PECR applies in the context of UK residents specifically. The e-Privacy Directive applies to GDPR and EU residents. The chart below provides the similarities and distinctions between the two. Differences from the E-Privacy Regulation PECR E-Privacy Directive Scope PECR applies to the transmission of unsolicited electronic messages to individuals in the UK. ePD applies to the processing of personal data and security of the trans