Brussels, 24/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 24 February, the home affairs ministers of the EU welcomed the communication of the Commission on a global approach to protecting personal data in the EU. In their conclusions, which anticipate proposals for a revision of the 1995 European data protection directive to be put forward by the Commission before the summer, they stress the need to guarantee people adequate protection under all circumstances and indicate that the future new legal framework could include “provisions on data protection in the field of police and legal cooperation in criminal matters”. However, the ministers stress that the notion of global approach to data protection “does not necessarily rule out the adoption, within this global regime, of specific rules for police and legal cooperation in criminal matters”, the EU27 thereby urging the Commission to present a legal framework which takes account of these specific natures. “In this context, we must lay down, in a harmonised and balanced way, certain thresholds of the rights of the person concerned”, they state, “when this proves necessary and proportionate”. The Council also calls on the Commission to pay particular attention to minors and for an assessment of the use made by the EU27 of biometric data in the framework of the police - and the impact of this on privacy - to be carried out. At international level, the Council points out that as a result of the globalisation of data handling, “it is vital to define universal principles for the protection of people” and “encourages the Commission to take pains to establish cooperation in this field with third countries”. The ministers go on to urge the Commission to take the opportunity to extend the obligation to notify violations of personal data to sectors other than telecoms, on the basis of such factors as costs incurred. (S.P./transl.fl)