Brussels, 09/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) invited experts from various information technology networks to a round table on holding personal data, entitled “The effects of holding personal information on industry and civil society”, on 3 May. The objective was to sound industry out on this subject and open the debate on the Council's draft framework proposal on the holding of data handled or sent via public communication networks, aiming to coordinate the Member States' legislation to step up the prevention, investigation, detection and bringing to justice of criminal acts including terrorism. The proposal had been tabled by France, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Ireland last year, in the light of the declaration on the fight against terrorism adopted by the European Council on 25 March 2004. When it was on the agenda of the “JHA” Council of last December, most Member States expressed their will to oblige operators to keep more data than just invoicing details and other commercial data. “We need a genuine debate, the absence of which has made its presence cruelly felt”, said Alexander Alvaro (FDP, Germany), rapporteur for the committee on civil liberties of the European Parliament on the proposed framework decision. The exports have long been voicing their concerns about this initiative which, aside from the technical complications arising with storage and the additional investment required, has raised many practical (which data to collect, how long to keep it) and ethical (risks of infringement of civil rights and liberties) questions. According to ETNO (European Telecommunications Network Operators), an impact study, which has not yet been carried out, is absolutely essential before any decision, which must respect the European Charter of Fundamental Rights (especially article 8, which recognises the protection of personal data as a fundamental right). If Europe decides to opt for the holding of personal data, it must imperatively and very clearly state which kind of data are concerned (limited to a bare minimum) and the period of time for which they are to be held (as short as possible). It must also plan adequate financing to allow the operators to put in place the means necessary to implement the system, adds ETNO, which stresses the concept of “confidentiality” of users, which must be respected. The same concerns were expressed by EuroISPA (a pan-European internet service providers' organisation): is it really justified to store masses of personal data with no apparent connection to the fight against terrorism? How can the security of storage be guaranteed and what harmonisation should be put in place? Furthermore, data handling work will be needed as gross data cannot be transmitted in the same form as that in which they are collected, which will entail major additional work, which will in turn require the system to be revised completely. BITKOM (a German association for information technology, telecommunications and the new media) is calling on the legislators to compensate industry in full, as it cannot be expected to pick up the tab for the data processing. It is also calling for several kinds of data to be excluded explicitly from the scope (missed calls, received calls, “IP-to-IP” communications on the internet, certain location data). Unice, which represents European employers, shared the speakers' concerns, adding that data holding will not affect only the telecommunications sector but the economic world as a whole, and also raised politically sensitive issues. A debate on the issue is absolutely essential, the employers' group insisted. This initiative also goes against the Lisbon objectives, in that it will hinder the correct and harmonised functioning of the information society, it added. “The current proposal lacks an appropriate legal basis and is out of proportion and ineffectual. It needs a complete rethink”, said Alexander Alvaro. The adoption of his report by the European Parliament is scheduled for the June plenary session.