Newcastle (United Kingdom), 08/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - The EU25 ministers of justice and home affairs said on Thursday at their informal meeting in Newcastle that they intended to adopt a joint text on telecommunications data retention despite protests by industrialists in the sector, who presented their grievances to ministers during the meeting.
Despite this agreement of principle, already noted for some time, the Member States are still divided over the content of the proposal. The dossier is a very “tricky” one, admitted the president-in-office of the Council, British Home Minister Charles Clarke speaking at a press conference. The European Commissioner for justice and home affairs, Franco Frattini, confirmed during the same conference early that afternoon that the European Commission will present a concurrent proposal of directive on the same theme end September so that the European Parliament may take part in adopting these rules. He nonetheless expressed the hope that the text would be definitively adopted end December, which seems almost impossible, several European diplomats said.
The proposed framework decision relating to telecommunications data retention is intended to make it an obligation for telecommunications operators to keep a trace of telephone and internet communications, namely who contacted whom and when. It is not a question in this proposal of keeping the content of conversations or e-mails.
For the first time, the EU Presidency had invited representatives of the industrial sector to present their points of view to the ministers. Several ministers, including the French, Spanish and Danish ministers, expressed exasperation at the declaration made by one of them who said the annual cost per operator would be over EUR 100 million. For the Spanish justice minister, José Antonio Alonso, who is very much in favour of the proposal, it is not acceptable to use the cost argument when speaking of combating terrorism, which is the worse form of crime. Danish Minister Lene Espersen rejected the “whining” of the very wealthy industries. Germany, on the other hand, was always opposed to the proposal because of its cost. German Justice Minister Birgite Zypries, like the industrial representatives, mentioned the figure of several hundred million euros. The Italian justice minister, Roberto Castelli, who was generally opposed in principle to binding European texts, told a small group of journalists that, although he recognises the need for data retention, there is a problem of cost, with an annual sum of EUR 100 million for calls that do not get through.
For now, it is foreseen that Member States should be free to choose whether and how they may compensate their telecommunication operators for the cost of data retention. British sources said on Thursday that company estimates on the proposal for a European framework directive were far lower: EUR 1 million for changing the system and keeping the data according to a company that has a 25% market share, and EUR 4 million according to a company that holds 20%. The same sources felt it was impossible to say whether the British government would cover these costs. As far as the companies are concerned, this is the rub. On the other hand, the authorities will obviously pay the costs in order to retrace precise data in the database of these companies. The United Kingdom predicts this will cost EUR 8 million annually, one diplomat says.
Michael Rotert, from the European Internet Services Providers Association, and Michael Bartholomew, from the European Telecommunications Network Operations Association (ETNO), attended the meeting. These associations have jointly published a press release in which they state their great concern regarding the data retention proposal. Industry has “serious doubts” about the tabled proposal that they consider “disproportionate”, bringing a “radical change compared to existing practice”. Placing emphasis on the fact that the European Union itself constantly stresses the importance of this economic sector for growth, these associations stress that if, despite everything, the governments persist in adopting retention rules that go beyond current practices, industry awaits a clear commitment for all costs for industry to be covered.
In addition to the difficulties that Member States have to reach an agreement on all aspects of data retention, there is also the problem of legal base. The European Commission, the European Parliament and also the Council's legal service consider that this should not be an intergovernmental text like that on which the Member States are working but a proposal based on Community telecommunications law, adopted in co-decision by the European Parliament and Council.
The European Commission has therefore prepared a competing proposal for 21 September, different in both content and format, suggest EU sources. The German justice minister, and others, ruled out changing the legal basis mid-term when work on data retention has been underway for a long time. It has taken a long time for the European Commission to unveil a competing proposal because of disagreements in the Commission's justice and information society departments, suggest the same sources.
The question of how much it will cost to establish lists of data that has to be supplied was set out, but there is still the question of unanswered calls. There is also discussion about how far legal cooperation should extend, with the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Austria and others appearing to reject anything not covered by legislation at home. In June 2005, Member States seemed prepared to agree on a step-by-step approach, starting with telephone conversations, with a two-year transition period for the internet and unanswered calls to take account of problems facing telephone operators in some countries.