European parliament approves tougher data privacy rules

'Groundbreaking' changes strengthen EU privacy protections, enshrine right to be forgotten and give regulators wide-reaching powers

The European parliament has voted through tougher rules on data protection, aimed at boosting privacy and giving authorities greater powers to take action against companies that breach the rules.

The rules, including the much-needed General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), were four years in the making and form the new backbone of laws for data regulators to pursue companies with heavy fines - as much as 4% of annual turnover for global companies - for incidents such as data breaches, which have become increasingly common.