Road safety

Opinion on the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council facilitating cross-border enforcement in the field of road safety, JO C 310, 5.12.2008, p. 9

The EDPS issued an opinion on the proposal for a Directive facilitating cross-border enforcement in the field of road safety.

The proposal aims at reducing fatalities, injuries and material damage resulting from traffic accidents. In this context, the proposal intends to establish a system to facilitate the cross-border enforcement of sanctions for specified road traffic offences.

In order to contribute to a non discriminatory and more effective enforcement towards traffic offenders, the proposal foresees the establishment of a system of cross-border exchange of information between Member States.

The EDPS considers that the proposal provides for sufficient justification for the establishment of the system for the cross-border exchange of information, and that it limits the quality of data to be collected and transferred adequately.

He also welcomes the redress procedure foreseen in the proposal and, in particular, the fact that access to personal data will be possible in the country of residence of the data subject.

The EDPS also made the following recommendations:

• on the information of data subjects: the way data subjects will be informed of the fact they have specific rights of access to their data and possible correction of these data will depend on the format of the offence notification. It is therefore important that the proposal lists all information relevant for the data subject, in a language that he/she understands.
• on the security of the system: the EDPS has noted that it is foreseen to make use of an already existing infrastructure to exchange the information. The EDPS has no objection to this objective as far as it limits financial or administrative burdens. He insists however on the fact that this should not lead to interoperability with other databanks. The EDPS welcomes the proposed limit on the possibilities of use of the data by Member States other that the one where the offence was committed.