Out-Law News 2 min. read
EU proposes cross-border exchange of enforcement data
14 Oct 2005, 12:07 pm
The European Commission has set out its proposals for allowing certain types of law enforcement data – such as fingerprints, DNA profiles and telephone numbers – held in one Member State, to be more easily available to equivalent authorities in other Member States.
The move is intended to improve police and judicial cooperation in the era of trans-national threats and crimes. It will, says the Commission, remove the unpredictability of the existing exchange mechanisms, which rely on agreements between the individual Member States.
In general terms the Framework Decision will oblige Member States to ensure that law enforcement relevant information – namely, information that makes possible, facilitates, or accelerates the prevention, detection or investigation of criminal offences, controlled by authorities designated for this purpose – is shared with the equivalent competent authorities of other Member States and with Europol if they need the information to carry out their lawful tasks.
The information will be shared either by online access, or by transfer based on an 'information demand' after matching solicited information with an index detailing the data that is not accessible online.
The types of information that will be available will include DNA profiles, fingerprints, ballistics, vehicle registration information, telephone numbers and other communication data, and names contained in civil registers.
Before information exchange on this new basis may begin, says the Commission, Member States must first notify which authorities will be concerned, and the conditions under which they can access information. On that basis, a committee will match the equivalence between the different authorities to ensure that similar authorities will have access to information under comparable conditions.
If prior authorisation (by a judicial authority, for example) is required by national law before information can be accessed, that authorisation must be given by the responsible authority within 12 hours after receipt of the request, unless one of the grounds for refusal laid down in the instrument exists.
According to the Commission, the Framework Decision will apply only to information exchanged in the phase before a prosecution has started, and will not affect existing mutual legal assistance mechanisms or the future European evidence warrant.
The Framework Decision will be backed up by a previously announced proposal for a Council Framework Decision on the protection of personal data processed in the framework of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters – in order to safeguard against unlawful processing, says the Commission.
This second Decision, published by the Commission last week, includes strict rules on confidentiality and security of processing, judicial remedies, liability and also sanctions.
In addition it sets out a mechanism to ensure that personal data are only transferred to those third countries and international bodies that ensure an adequate level of data protections.
“Police services and judicial authorities of the Member States have to be supported by decisive action at EU level,” said Franco Frattini, Vice President of the Commission responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, on Wednesday. “Today the Commission introduces an entire new concept in the field of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters the mere fact that law enforcement information crosses borders will no longer be relevant.”
The proposals have not been greeted with enthusiasm by civil rights campaigners. According to a posting on the Statewatch website, Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, warns, "when it comes to the balance between the demands of state agencies and the rights and privacy of individual there is no contest, the state wins every time".
