Brussels, 30/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - EU countries trust that data protection will take its due place in the temporary agreement allowing the United States to continue having access to banking information from the Swift network for counter-terrorism purposes. “We want to reach a protective agreement over a few months to extend the status quo and protect online data under European law”, said Jacques Barrot, European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, speaking on Thursday 30 July. The interim agreement to be signed after the talks should not exceed 12 months, according to the negotiating brief (EUROPE 9950). “We want a comprehensive and definitive agreement involving the European Parliament as soon as the Lisbon Treaty takes effect”, Mr Barrot said, pointing out that he wanted, with this new agreement, for Europeans to also have access to US databases under the principle of reciprocity. “It is not a matter of pleasing the United States. It is simply necessary to ensure that the fight against terrorism is not broken off”, he added, denouncing an “unjustified campaign” that deforms reality.
The draft mandate approved last Monday by EU foreign ministers and seen by EUROPE is quite clear: Europe is effectively seeking online status quo with the agreement concluded in the form of an exchange of letters between the EU and United States in June 2007 (EUROPE 9457 and JO No2007/C 166/09). For example, the duration of data storage by the US Treasury should not exceed 5 years at most, as is currently the case. The Union stresses, moreover, that there is a need for the principles of proportionality and necessity to be respected in order to reduce, as far as possible, the number of requests and data passed on during transfers. Information taken from Swift data should only be used for the purposes of investigation, detection, prevention and/or prosecution in the context of the fight against terrorism or terrorist funding, or the resulting inquiries and prosecutions.
The European Union wants to go further in the field of data protection. The mandate provides in particular for the appointment of a European supervisory authority responsible for collecting and verifying data requests from the US Treasury and for finally approving their transfer to the United States. For now, it remains to be seen whether this authority will be of a pan-European or national kind and what its exact powers will be. Concerning the transfer of data strictly speaking, Europeans want the future agreement to be based on the “PUSH” system which, unlike the “PULL” system, not only bans automatic access to European passenger data without prior request from the United States, but also the use of such information without security guarantees. The United States should also refrain from operating “data mining”. Finally, Europeans want to set up an appeal procedure in the context of the American Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP). Once made official in an agreement, the procedure could, for example, allow legal or natural persons who feel damage has been done to them to appeal before an administrative or legal jurisdiction in the United States. The European Parliament's committee on civil liberties is expected to organise a public hearing on 2 September on this subject. (B.C./transl.jl)