EU Justice Ministers will meet in Brussels on Friday 8 March to discuss the collection of electronic evidence within the EU, and also with the United States. They will also take stock of the difficult interinstitutional negotiations on the protection of whistleblowers and the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO).
Electronic evidence. Ministers are expected to adopt a 'general approach' on the proposal for a directive requiring service providers to appoint a legal representative within the European Union, which would be responsible for receiving and complying with European orders for the production and preservation of electronic evidence (see EUROPE 12003).
No surprises are expected, as the Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) endorsed the compromise text of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU on Wednesday 27 February (see EUROPE 12204).
The text contains few changes compared to the Commission's initial proposal. It also adds a clearer joint responsibility between the legal representative and the service provider and provides for the possibility of appointing the same legal representative for several service providers, in particular for SMEs wishing to reduce costs (see EUROPE 12201).
This subject has been a priority for the Romanian Presidency, a diplomatic source recalled. The objective, she said, was to send the message that the EU Council is ready to negotiate, even if, for its part, the European Parliament is far from ready to adopt its position and is not expected do so before the end of its mandate (see EUROPE 12189).
Furthermore, with regard to electronic evidence, ministers will then discuss in camera the Commission's draft negotiating mandate for an EU-US agreement on cross-border access to electronic evidence (see EUROPE 12187).
At the informal meeting in Bucharest on 8 February, the European Commissioner for Justice, Věra Jourová, indicated that she had received positive reactions from the ministers on this mandate (see EUROPE 12190), even though they had not set a precise timetable for its adoption.
The aim is to hold a political orientation debate to guide work at the technical level, explained this diplomatic source, so that the EU Council adopts the mandate “as soon as possible”.
Ministers will also discuss the draft mandate to participate, on behalf of the EU, in the negotiations on the Second Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention), which started in 2017 and is expected to be completed in December 2019.
Whistleblowers. The Romanian Presidency will also present a progress report on the interinstitutional negotiations on the Directive concerning the protection of whistleblowers at the EU level.
Following this presentation, it is expected that some Member States will disagree with the outcome of the negotiations (see other news).
European Public Prosecutor's Office. The Ministers will also be informed by the Commission of the progress made in setting up the European Public Prosecutor's Office. According to a European source, no discussion on the ongoing procedure for appointing the Head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (see EUROPE 12203) is planned.
On this point, a diplomatic source also recalled that negotiations could only start once Parliament has appointed its negotiating team - which the Conference of Presidents is expected to do on Thursday 7 March.
Finally, at lunchtime, they will discuss the use of artificial intelligence in the field of Justice. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana with Pascal Hansens)