Technologies

Avis sur la communication de la Commission intitulée "Un espace de liberté, de sécurité et de justice au service des citoyens", JO C 276, 17.11.2009, p. 8

The EDPS has adopted an opinion on the European Commission's Communication of 10 June 2009 entitled “An area of freedom, security and justice serving the citizen”. The Communication is the Commission's contribution to the discussions on the new EU programme for the next five years in the area of justice and home affairs, the so called Stockholm programme, which is due to be adopted by the European Council in December 2009.

The EDPS supports the attention that has been devoted in the Communication to the protection of fundamental rights, and in particular the protection of personal data, as one of the key issues of the future framework for EU action on the questions of citizenship, justice, security, asylum and immigration. He fully endorses the Commission's view that more emphasis should be given to data protection in the areas concerned, and calls for the European Council to follow the same approach when adopting the Stockholm multi-annual programme.

Taking the need for protection of fundamental rights as main angle of the analysis, the EDPS opinion focuses on the following issues:

• need for a comprehensive data protection scheme: the EDPS fully supports the call for a comprehensive data protection scheme covering all areas of EU competence, regardless of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty;
• data protection principles: the EDPS welcomes the intention of the Commission to reaffirm a number of basic principles of data protection. He emphasises the importance of the purpose limitation principle as a cornerstone of data protection law. Focus should also be given to the possibilities for improving the effectiveness of the application of data protection principles, in particular through instruments than can reinforce the responsibilities of the data controllers;
• Opinion on the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on an Area of freedom, security and justice serving the citizen, OJ C 276, 17.11.2009, p. 8European information model: the EDPS notes the developments towards a European information model and an EU Information Management Strategy with great interest and underlines the attention that should be given in these projects to data protection elements, to be further elaborated in the Stockholm programme. The architecture for information exchange should be based on "privacy by design" and "Best Available Techniques".

Avis sur la proposition de règlement concernant la création du système "Eurodac" pour la comparaison des empreintes digitales aux fins de l'application efficace du règlement (CE) n° [.../...] (établissant les critère et mécanismes de détermination de l'Etat membre responsable de l'examen d'une demande de protection internationale présentée dans l'un des Etats membres par un ressortissant de pays tiers ou un apatride) [COM(2008) 825], JO C 229, 23.09.2009, p. 6

The Proposal is a revision of the EURODAC Regulation and its implementing regulation, Council Regulation No 407/2002/EC, and it aims at inter alia:

• improving the efficiency of the implementation of the EURODAC Regulation,
• ensuring consistency with the asylum acquis evolved since the adoption of the above-mentioned Regulation,
• updating a number of provisions taking account of factual developments since the adoption of the Regulation,
• establishing a new management framework.

The EDPS supports this Proposal and draws attention to the need to ensure full consistency between the EURODAC and Dublin Regulations. The EDPS sees the need for a better coordination and harmonization at EU level of the procedures for fingerprinting, whether they concern asylum seekers or any other persons subject to the EURODAC procedure. He draws special attention to the question of the age limits for fingerprinting, and in particular the difficulties occurring in several Member States to determine the age of young asylum seekers. The EDPS insists on a clarification of the provisions regarding the rights of the data subjects, and in particular he underlines that the national data controllers are primarily responsible to ensure the application of these rights.

Deuxième avis relatif au réexamen de la directive 2002/58/CE concernant le traitement des données à caractère personnel et la protection de la vie privée dans le secteur des communications électroniques (directive "vie privée et communications électroniques"), JO C 128, 06.06.2009, p. 28

This Opinion follows upon a first EDPS Opinion, as well as Comments, in which recommendations were made to help ensure that the proposed changes effectively provide for the best possible protection of personal data.

This Second Opinion comes as a response to the Council's Common Position which, on a number of critical points, fails to endorse some of the data protection safeguards proposed by the European Parliament and the European Commission or previously recommended by the EDPS. The recommendations presented in this Opinion aim at streamlining some of the provisions of the Directive, while at the same time ensuring an adequate level of data protection and privacy.

The Opinion particularly focuses on the provisions relating to the setting up of a mandatory security breach notification system for which the Supervisor believes there is still some room for improvement.

Avis sur le Livre vert de la Commission intitulé "Exécution effective des décisions judiciaires dans l'Union européenne: la transparence du patrimoine des débiteurs" - COM(2008) 128 final, JO C 20, 27.01.2009, p 1

On the 22 September, the EDPS adopted an Opinion on the Commission Green paper on the Effective Enforcement of Judgements in the European Union: the Transparency of Debtors' Assets. The Green paper focuses on possible measures at EU level that can be adopted with a view to improve the transparency of the debtor's assets and the right of creditors to obtain information with a view to effectively enforce their rights whilst respecting the principles for the protection of debtor's privacy pursuant to the provisions of Directive 95/46. The Green paper analyzes in detail the current situation as well as a broad range of possible options to reach these objectives.

The EDPS opinion is mainly aimed at providing guidance with regard to data protection issues that may arise in possible legislative initiatives stemming from this Green paper and complements the public consultation launched by the Commission in March. In particular, the EDPS welcomes the Green paper and the broad consultation to which it has been submitted and recommends that:

• Possible legislative actions stemming from the Green paper should ensure that the processing of personal data carried out by the whole range of enforcement authorities is clearly based on at least one of the legal grounds laid down by Article 7 of Directive 95/46/EC, and in particular its letter c) and/or e);
• The proportionality principle is duly taken into account not only with regard to the data elements to be disclosed by the debtors, but also with regard to other aspects such as the period of time during which the data are stored and disclosed, the entities having access to data, and the modalities of disclosure;
• Any measures on transparency of debtors' assets respect the purpose limitation principle and that any necessary exception would comply with the conditions laid down by Article 13 of Directive 95/46;
• Aspects concerning the provision of information to the debtors, the rights of data subjects, and the security of processing are duly taken into account.

The EDPS will remain available to provide informal comments on draft proposals arising from this Green paper and expects to be consulted on any adopted legislative proposals pursuant to Article 28(2) of Regulation 45/2001.