The European Union has said that Europeans should have more rights on issues relating to online privacy. It proposes new rights for citizens, who share their personal information such as Facebook and Google.

The new data protection strategy published on Thursday could give rise to the contentions between authorities in Europe and American Technology companies. Facebook and Google have both faced criticism by EU for collecting personal data without authorization.

The new policy called, "A comprehensive approach on personal data protection in the European Union" calls for a new online "right to be forgotten" where citizens have the right to permanently delete submitted personal data. It also says that the users should give explicit consent before companies can use or process their personal data.

The new policy, which aims to bring changes to the 1995 data-protection law, suggests that the new approach is needed to deal with the new websites that poses threat to online privacy.

The new law will give consumers, the right to file a law suit against companies for privacy breaches and even criminal penalties. Observers say that EU, which usually has stricter privacy cultures than the U.S, will find it difficult to implement these laws.

EU commissioner for justice Viviane Reding said, "The protection of personal data is a fundamental right. To guarantee this right, we need clear and consistent data-protection rules. We also need to bring our laws up to date with the challenges raised by new technologies and globalization."