Brussels, 01/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The inclusion in the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP) of a clause providing for an unambiguous horizontal provision that exempts the existing and future EU legal framework on the protection of personal data is a “key priority”. This was the main message of the opinion of the civil liberties (LIBE) committee adopted on 31 March - ahead of the European Parliament's recommendations on TTIP.
The opinion, which was compiled by Philipp Albrecht (Greens/EFA, Germany), stresses that the negotiators should also bear in mind that the Parliament's consent to the final agreement could be endangered as long as the blanket mass surveillance activities are not completely abandoned and an adequate solution found for the data privacy rights of EU citizens.
The TTIP negotiations, like those for the international agreement on trade in services (TiSA), touch upon the issue of international data flows, while excluding privacy and data protection - which will be discussed alongside the framework of the EU-US Safe Harbor agreement and the data protection agreement. However, the LIBE committee is calling on the European Commission for an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) clause not to prevent equal access to justice or to undermine democracy. It is also calling for decisions on legal conflicts about fundamental rights only to be made by competent ordinary courts.
As regards data transfer, the LIBE committee asks the Commission to ensure that personal data can only be transferred outside the EU if the provisions on third-country transfers in EU legislation are respected.
On e-commerce, the LIBE committee's opinion calls for the text on e-commerce proposed by the US negotiators not to be accepted as a basis for negotiation if it contains conditions similar to the US draft chapter on e-commerce in the TiSA which, the LIBE committee MEPs say, would undermine EU rules and safeguards for the transfer of personal data to third countries.
In addition, the LIBE committee calls for the inclusion of a binding and suspensive human rights clause as a standard part of EU trade agreements with third countries, and a clause on corruption, tax fraud, tax evasion and money laundering, in order to establish enhanced cooperation between EU member states and the US on these issues. (Emmanuel Hagry)