Member States appear to be moving towards a decentralised approach to the storage of mobile data obtained in the context of Covid-19 using contact tracing and alert applications (apps), European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager told the European Parliament on Monday 4 May. This issue will be discussed by the Telecommunications Ministers by videoconference on Tuesday.
Several national approaches
Despite a recommendation and a toolkit advocating a European approach, Member States have taken relatively different directions on the issue of contact tracing apps for coronavirus patients (see EUROPE 12468/5, 12464/7). Thus, while Belgium has chosen to use the manual method for the time being, other European Union countries have opted for these digital apps.
However, one question remains: how to store the user's data? While Germany and Austria expressed support for a decentralised approach, where the data remain on the device, France and the United Kingdom prefer a centralised approach, where the data are stored on a central server.
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), in its guidelines, expresses a slight preference for “the decentralised solution”, which, according to the EDPS, “is more in line with the principle of minimisation” (see EUROPE 12472/9).
Ministerial discussion on May 5
In a document in preparation for the ministerial videoconference, the Croatian Presidency of the EU Council calls on Member States to find a common ground on this issue in order to facilitate interoperability between national applications.
“At present, it is not guaranteed that it is technologically possible to ensure interoperability between 'decentralised' architectures and 'background service solutions'”, the Croatian document says. The Presidency therefore hopes that the discussion will contribute to “better coordination of tracing and alert applications and their interoperability in order to facilitate mobility within and between Member States”.
“The discussion should also lead to a common position on Apple and Google on the criteria for their APIs”, the Croatian paper points out, referring to the interoperability of their operating systems (‘application programming interface’ or API). This convergence must not prevent Member States from making specific national choices on the characteristics of such apps, stresses the rotating Presidency of the EU Council.
A trend towards a decentralised approach
Present at the European Parliament Committee on the Internal Market, Mrs Vestager was widely questioned on this issue. She indicated that, at this stage, discussions were moving in the direction of a decentralised solution.
“This seems easier to implement fully and, in terms of cybersecurity, it is the option with the least risk. It's something I'm told, not an expertise I alone have. But more and more countries are adopting this approach”, she said.
According to the Vice-President, technological solutions can help Europe emerge from the pandemic. “Without technology, it will be very difficult to open up to the point we want. We all hope that this summer will not be lost and that we will be able to travel”, said the Vice-President, concluding that applications should be temporary, voluntary, transparent and decentralised.
The ministerial meeting will also discuss other technological solutions, such as apps that track symptoms or the use of anonymised and aggregated location data for pandemic modelling. Also on the agenda is how the digital sector can contribute to the post-pandemic period. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)