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EU: Mandatory data retention: European Parliament to decide its position

01 November 2005

In November the European Parliament will be deciding its position on the European Commission's proposal for a Directive on data retention - which would log everyone's communications (phone, fax, mobiles including location, e-mails and internet usage) and give access law enforcement agencies for the foreseeable future.

The European Parliament has the power of "co-decision" and therefore is in a position to insist on all the amendments needed to protect the privacy and liberties of the people in the EU. The UK Council Presidency (representing the 25 EU governments) is demanding that the parliament rush through the measure by the end of November under the 1st reading procedure ("fast-tracking" intended for uncontroversial measures).

Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments:

"The Council has failed to convince many of us of the need for this measure. But it is good that on such a momentus issue - placing all the communications of everyone under surveillance - that the European Parliament has the full powers of co-decision.

If the security and intelligence agencies - who are at the forefront in stopping terrorist attacks - need access to the telecommunications data to be retained it is very hard to believe that EU governments would have taken over four years to come up with a proposal which will not come into effect for at least two further years. If this is the case they would be guilty of gross negligence and failure to protect the people of Europe. However, if additional powers are needed they should be strictly limited to dealing with terrorism and related offences."

In the interests of ensuring an informed debate here is:

Statewatch: Annotated guide to the issues and documentation on: Mandatory data retention in the EU

and the

Annotated Guide as a pdf (with live links)