The OECD Guidelines, Convention 108 and the Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC) all aimed to harmonize the national data protection laws of the member states of the European Economic Community (EEC) and to establish a common framework for the protection of personal data. However, they largely failed to achieve this goal due to several reasons, such as:
The lack of political will and commitment from the member states to implement the directives fully and consistently12.
The divergent interpretations and applications of the directives by different national authorities, courts and regulators12.
The emergence of new technologies and challenges that required new or updated legal solutions, such as electronic communications, cookies, biometrics, cloud computing, etc12.
The influence of other regional or international initiatives that addressed some aspects of data protection differently or in conflict with the directives, such as the US Privacy Shield Framework3.