Under proposals put to the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, data protection law looks set to be reformed such that the use of ‘pre-ticked’ boxes will no longer be permitted as a way of showing consent in consumer agreements.

Many businesses use pre-ticked boxes, thus effectively requiring the consumer to untick a box if they wish to opt out of part of the agreement.

The proposal is that all consent will have to be positive, requiring the demonstration of ‘clear affirmative action’.

A variety of other measures to toughen data privacy law have also been proposed. One of the most significant for many companies is the proposal to require that ‘financial indemnification’ be given to those who suffer a data breach as a result of the transfer of data to non-approved ‘third world’ countries.

Any changes in the law are not likely to take place before late 2013.