“Representatives of the Meta (Facebook) and Google platforms are calling for a legal framework for e-evidence”, said French Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti, whose country holds the six-month presidency of the EU Council, on Friday 4 February.
A few minutes earlier, he was discussing this with his European counterparts, as well as with Markus Reinisch, vice-president for European public affairs at the company Meta, Kent Walker, president of Google and Laure Beccuau, public prosecutor in Paris.
A chair was deliberately left empty in the meeting room as Twitter declined to join the discussions due to the pandemic situation. This decision did not please Minister Dupond-Moretti, who chaired the meeting: “I think that where there is a will there is a way”, he commented.
The discussion with the two representatives present at least reassured the ministers. According to the French Minister of Justice, the platforms want to continue the work on e-evidence: “they are aware of their responsibility”.
As for the details of the text, which aims to compel digital service providers in one country to provide e-evidence when requested by judicial authorities in another country, the platforms did not have any particular request, according to the minister. “We feel we are moving in the same direction”, he told EUROPE.
While trilogue discussions continue to stall between the European Parliament and the EU Council on the treatment of data based on its nature, the digital giants “are above all asking for a general rule, a standardisation”, the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, told EUROPE.
The co-legislators must work to make progress on this text, according to Éric Dupond-Moretti, who “absolutely” hopes that the French Presidency of the EU Council will reach an agreement with the European Parliament.
The European Parliament’s position differs from that of the EU Council on: - the criteria for notifying the persons whose data are to be retrieved; - notification to the country in which the digital service provider is headquartered; - differentiation between different types of data (e.g. content or traffic data). In particular, MEPs want to ensure that the rules protect users’ individual freedoms as much as possible and, therefore, that there are strict criteria for obtaining their personal data.
When asked by EUROPE, the Minister did not give details on how the French Presidency of the EU Council intends to resolve these stumbling blocks. “We’re talking about it, we received a letter, we’re answering it. I think that we will succeed, because the magistrates want this tool. I think we will make progress. The ministers who were present felt the same way”, he told EUROPE. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)