Brussels, 01/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - The directive on data retention is ineffective in tackling serious crimes, according to a study of the German Federal Police, announced on 27 January by the NGO AK Vorrat (Arbeitskreis Vorratsdatenspeicherung). This directive, which Germany has still to transpose since the Constitutional Court found a first draft of it to be disproportionate in March 2010, obliges telecommunications companies to keep data on their clients. Although it had the effect of increasing the number of known criminal acts between 2007 and 2009, the number of crimes solved fell over the same period, from 77.6% in 2007 to 76.3% in 2009. The trend is the same as regards web data, with the number of resolved “cyber crimes” falling from 79.8% in 2008 to 75.7% in 2009, according to the study.
In view of the NGO, these poor performances are linked to the avoidance strategies of users who do not wish their sensitive information to be recorded and therefore choose instead to use services which guarantee their anonymity. This behaviour means that the provisions of the directive, which aim to fight crime, for instance, are largely “futile”.
This study has been published against the backdrop of the Commission's current assessment of the 2006 directive and possible amendments to it. It also comes at a time when Germany is preparing a further transposition. One draft, brought by the justice minister, which provides for the rapid freezing of user data, has received “encouragement” from Commissioner Viviane Reding, who is in charge of the fundamental rights portfolio. However, her spokesperson announced on Monday 31 January that Commissioner Reding has levelled criticism at the services of Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström. Reding finds that “this rapid freezing approach is not enough” and the German bill does not seem to comply with the directive because it does not deal with the “principle of retention” enough. “We must be able to keep the data and on this issue, we are on the same page as Ms Malmström”, said Matthew Newman. (S.P./transl.fl)