In 2008 we saw an unprecedented level of change in privacy law and practice in the EU. High profile data security breaches ensured that privacy issues remained a priority for both the government and private organisations. Many reforms were proposed to, for example, the Directive on Data Protection 95/46/ECand the e-Privacy Directive 2002/58. We also saw an increase in legislation with the adoption of the UK's National Staff Dismissal Register and the EU’s Prum Treaty and the release of the UK's Communications Data Bill. Given the current economic downturn, privacy issues and reforms may remain in a state of flux. We look ahead at what we predict will remain key EU privacy issues in 2009.

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