News roundup--Tobar, Gamestop, data protection laws and more

Simon Palmer has replaced Lyle Finlay as chief executive of Hawkin’s Bazaar owner Tobar. Palmer was previously the company’s chief operating officer.

As part of its strategy to focus on its digital operations in the UK, video-games retailer Gamestop has closed its four remaining shops, in Northern Ireland. The BBC reports that Gamestop’s UK website will be operated from the company’s Dublin office and the company will maintain its bricks-and-mortar presence in Ireland.

The European Commission has drafted an update to the EU data protection law, their first overhaul since implementation in 1995. The changes would introduce a single set of rules on data protection, valid across the EU—a move the Commission says will save businesses some €2.3 billion a year in administrative costs.
Among the changes, the reforms set out that companies must notify the national supervisory authority, (currently the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK), of serious data breaches as soon as possible, and within 24 hours “if feasible”. Organisations will only have to deal with a single national data protection authority in the EU country where they have their main establishment and individuals can refer to the data protection authority in their own country even when their data is processed by a company based outside the EU. Further, EU rules must apply if personal data is handled abroad by companies that are operationally active in the EU market. Individuals will also have easier access to their own data and will have a “right to be forgotten”, giving them powers to delete their data if there are “no legitimate grounds for retaining it”.
Should the new proposals come into force, companies that violate them could be fined up to 2 percent of their global annual turnover.

Skincare and cosmetics brand Clarins has completed the rollout of 18 websites including ecommerce sites for Clarins France, US and UK; a Thierry Mugler US online store; a series of nontransactional brand websites, for markets including Korea and Taiwan, and the first mobile commerce site for Clarins US. Further mobile sites are planned during 2012. All sites are on the eCommera Commerce Platform using Demandware technology.

Furniture retailer Dwell has launched its new-look website. The new design features a faster and guided search for products, enhanced product information and new features such as trend updates.