Brussels, 15/01/2013 (Agence Europe) -Justice and home affairs ministers will meet for their customary informal meeting in Dublin on 17-18 January. The main focus of the meeting will be discussions on reform of European rules framing personal data protection and also the new Commission proposal on insolvency procedures for companies. The home affairs part of the meeting will discuss the new Greek asylum action plan and the fight against illegal immigration.
A top priority of the Irish Presidency, reform of data protection rules, particularly regulation, has already been discussed on several occasions at ministerial level. In Nicosia last July, ministers debated possible exemptions for the public sector, an option that was ultimately rejected. This week, the Presidency will be asking ministers about the practical arrangements of the “right to forget” law, a flagship mechanism contained in Commissioner Viviane Reding's proposals. This is about establishing whether this right, under which a person can request that all data about them on the internet are erased, is feasible and does not contradict other key principles, such as the freedom of expression, a Presidency note indicates says.
Ireland also wants to tackle the issue of sanctions imposed on companies that breach the new European rules. The fines proposed by Reding could, in some cases, amount to €1 million or 2% of a company's annual overall turnover. The Presidency would, therefore, like to discuss the criteria which should be taken into account when imposing a penalty: for example, whether the previous good conduct of a company should be considered. Dublin would also like to know whether further preventive measures (warnings) are appropriate before imposing sanctions.
The Irish Presidency also intends to discuss other kinds of exemptions to the rules, such as that for households and data processing for exclusively personal and non-commercial ends, which had already been envisaged in the 1995 directive. In its note, the Presidency says that it would like to clarify the nature of this exemption. A number of companies, such as Facebook, are established on Irish territory and the country would like to make as much progress as possible on this reform, even if it is not certain that an agreement will be reached under the country's presidency as, alongside the regulation, there is also the directive on the treatment of personal data contained within the framework of police and criminal affairs. This text is moving forward much more slowly. The European Parliament opted for an “package” approach, as it indicated last week through its rapporteurs: Jan-Philipp Albrecht (Greens/EFA, Germany) for the regulation and Dimitrios Droutsas (S&D, Greece) for the directive (see EUROPE 10760).
Corporate insolvency. With regard to the other issues, Ireland intends to pay particular attention to the recent proposals made for framing corporate insolvency procedures. At the beginning of December, Justice Minister Alan Shatter spelled out to a small group of journalists how important the subject was because the country is currently involved in developing new provisions on personal insolvency (see EUROPE 10746). In the middle of last month, the Commission proposed reviewing European rules on cross-border insolvency procedures and no longer basing them exclusively on the liquidation of a company but more upon ways of rescuing viable companies, while protecting the right of creditors to be paid (see EUROPE 10750). Ministers will now have their first exchange of views on the subject and the Presidency would like, for example, to know whether the new provisions would be able to provide companies with a second chance.
Greece. In home affairs, Greece is expected to present its new action plan reforming its asylum system, bringing it into line with international standards. In January 2011, the country was severely criticised by the European Court of Human Rights and was subject to increased monitoring by its partners which were paying it European funds, in exchange for a number of measures being introduced, such as building new asylum seeker reception facilities. Other subjects on the table include: the humanitarian situation in Syria and possible EU responses, particularly through regional protection programmes and the refugee resettlement programme. The Presidency programme also indicated that ministers would be discussing the fundamental rights situation in the EU and how to fight racism and intolerance. (SP/transl.fl)