In January 2017, the EU Commission published the proposal for a Regulation on privacy and electronic communications, intended as a replacement to the existing e-Privacy Directive in May 2018. The special rules contained within the Directive are to be seen as complementary to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In view of the enormous daily impact of electronic communications and the increasing monitoring of user behaviour, it is the declared goal of consumer protection to safeguard the confidentiality of electronic communications as well as the right to selfdetermination in the management of personal communication data more effectively than had been the case.