The European Commissioner for Security Union, Julian King, attempted to put the minds of Parliament's committee on civil liberties (LIBE) at rest concerning the legislative proposals awaited in December on the interoperability of European information systems.
The Commissioner explained that the aim was not to change the way access is currently granted to the law enforcement authorities to databases such as the Schengen Information System, but to facilitate and accelerate procedures to search for information.
The aim of the proposal is to allow the competent services to access information on an individual that is stored on several European databases using a simpler and faster procedure. Databases such as the SIS, the Entry/Exit system, Eurodac and ECRIS will be covered by the proposal.
The Commissioner promised the MEPs that all of the current access conditions and protection of the fundamental rights of the individuals concerned by the searches would be maintained.
However, he explained that the new proposals could not solve all problems, particularly those concerning the quality and relevance of the data that member states feed into these databases, as Germany's Birgit Sippel (S&D) pointed out, highlighting the member states' shortcomings in this matter.
On Monday 20 November, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) published an opinion on the subject. “Interoperability, when implemented in a well thought-out manner, may help address some needs of competent authorities using large-scale information systems and help reduce the overall cost of operating such systems. Interoperability may also be in the interest of data protection”, for instance by ensuring that the data in these systems are up to date, the EDPS notes.
“We therefore look forward to the European Commission forthcoming legislative proposal that should clearly define the problems interoperability aims to resolve. It should also clearly set out for which specific purposes what categories of personal data would be processed” and the aimed-for objective, the EDPS states, adding that it is only once this information is available that the current debate on the impact of interoperability on our fundamental rights may progress. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)