In principle: resounding yes
It brings the choice for how your data is used back to the people.
It also forces companies to consider how data is secured and shared.
And it makes certain sleezy business practices unviable (which is a good thing)
The implementation: not so
A lot of uncertainty and FUD has been spread from "consulting agencies".
The official documentation has been late, is long and unreadable for non-laywers, and is unclear in key areas.
My take:
It is mostly a documentation and cleanup exercise, stuff that would have been good to do anyways.
Way, way, way to large loopholes for exporting data to the US.
A single large issue is still debated/unclear.. what about "the right to be forgotten" and backups..
One cannot selectively delete stuff from backups (especially incrementals). Most people (laywers/law profs/techies) I talk to think a best-effort must suffice, but most also think this will go to court to be cleared up.
The impact: Who knows.. might go either way
A lot of EU regulation really helps the consumers (and even if they complain alot about it, the companies survive too).
Some legislation is a little off-target (the cookie-law is probably the most recognizable).