(Telecompaper) A coalition of 12 trade bodies representing several major tech and telecom companies have called for the scrapping of the EU's ePrivacy Directive on the grounds that "sector-specific rules on privacy are no longer able to address the challenges of the digital age". The coalition is made up of the GSMA, representing mobile operators such as Telefonica, Orange, BT, T-Mobile, TalkTalk and Vodafone, as well as the European Telecommunications and Network Operators association (ETNO), the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA), DigitalEurope, the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and IAB Europe. Responding to the EC's public consultation on the review of the ePrivacy Directive and rules governing the processing of personal data, the statement calls for the regulation to be simplified and streamlined to ensure that consumers are provided with "a simple, consistent, and meaningful set of rules designed to protect their personal data".