Brussels, 15/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The workload of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) is continuing to increase, whether related to the use of new information technology, such as cloud computing, or European legislative activities which affect personal data, and 2010 was a particularly busy year. Peter Hustinx, European Supervisor, delivered this verdict as he presented his annual report for 2010 in Brussels on 15 June.
In 2010, the EDPS noted an increase in the complexity of complaints received. Of the 94 complaints received, around two thirds were inadmissible because they related to national level issues. Admissible complaints mainly related to questions of access and rectification, misuse, excessive collection and deletion of data. In 11 cases, the EDPS concluded that data protection rules had been “violated”.
In terms of legislation, the EDPS was involved in a number of European issues, ranging from the on-going revision of the 1995 European directive on personal data protection on which Commissioner Viviane Reding is working, to the implementation of the Stockholm Programme (Justice and Home Affairs) and the European digital agenda. In 2010, 19 legislative opinions were adopted by the EDPS, relating to the EU Internal Security Agenda, the EU Counter-Terrorism Strategy, and a Global Approach to transfers of PNR (passenger name records) data to third countries - in particular the United States, Australia and Canada - and review of the Frontex rules of procedure. On all these points, the EDPS, in his opinions, highlighted the potentially intrusive nature of the tools that the EU has given itself, highlighting each time the need to find a fair balance between security imperatives and protection of privacy and respect for the principle of proportionality in the measures.
Hustinx recently noted this principle of proportionality of European measures within the framework of the review of the expected revision of the 2006 directive on retention of data, which falls within the remit of Commissioner Cecilia Malmström. This directive is one of the main priorities for 2011, said the EDPS, stating his hope that the Commission will bring forward justification of the need to retain (hitherto for between six and 24 months) the telecoms data (both telephone and internet) of European citizens. In a recent opinion, Hustinx said that the directive, the transposition of which has been cancelled by several constitutional courts including Germany's, would not meet the requirements of fundamental rights to privacy nor provide convincing justification of the need for this directive. He is expecting robust debate on the issue with some member states, such as the United Kingdom, which do not support revision of the instrument.
For 2011, the EDPS intends, too, to focus on the Eurodac system (the database containing the finger prints of asylum seekers) and the visa information system, along with other initiatives, for example, in transport, with the use of body scanners in airports, or large-scale data exchanges that may take place in the Internal Market Information System. Other priorities for the EDPS are closely monitoring the ever-increasing number of applications of foreign social networks, such as Facebook and the Google search engine, and their potential impact on the privacy of Europeans. (S.P./transl.rt)