Brussels, 09/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - After more than two years of negotiations, the justice ministers of the member states of the EU have finally managed to conclude a political agreement, returned on Friday 9 November, on a minimal version of the proposal on the protection of personal data within the framework of police and legal cooperation.
The draft framework decision of 2005 aims to guarantee general protection for European citizens in the field of public safety (EUROPE 9041). The European Council of last June had called upon the ministers to reach agreement on this text “before the end of the year” 2007, due notably to pressure brought to bear by the European Parliament. The agreement on the main outlines of the proposal was reached in September (EUROPE 9504). The political agreement is set to lead to the formal adoption of the text by the end of the year. Within the framework of cooperation under the third pillar (intergovernmental and non-Community), personal data exchange between the states are not covered by the 1995 directive and, given the multiplication of coercive European legislation, the EU needed to reach an agreement. But at what price? The level of protection guaranteed by the text is not very high. “We are not going as far as we would have liked, but it is better than nothing”, Portuguese Justice Minister Alberto Costa admitted. The scope of application of the proposal will cover only data of a cross-border nature and not national data. The member states have agreed to go along with the demands of the United Kingdom for the text to relate only to cross-border personal data, and not also to data of a strictly national nature, as favoured by France. Then, the question arose as to how data protection would apply in the case of a member state transferring sensitive data to another country in the Union, with the latter transmitting these data to a third state. Finally, the states agreed to make the transfer of data by another member state to a third country conditional upon the authorisation of the country in which the data originated. The states will have the right to bypass this rule only in cases of “immediate threats” to the security of the member state or third state, or if the “essential interests” of a member state are jeopardised and the consent of the state of origin can be obtained in time. Spanish Interior Minister Mariano Ferandez Bermejo confirmed this principle, stating that his country did not wish to be able to transfer data “at any price”. Furthermore, many mechanisms already in place (Schengen Information System, visa information system, the rules for the functioning of Europol and Eurojust) or to be created (inclusion of the Treaty of Prüm in EU legislation), and the PNR (passenger name records) agreements with third countries will not be covered by the framework-decision, because they include their own data protection regimes. The exchange of data on criminal records, however, to Eurodac and the future “European PNR”, is to be covered by provisions of the framework decision. Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini, on the other hand, took the view that this was a “first step”, as it will not be possible to go below the minimum standards laid down by the text. (B.C.)