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EU: Mandatory data retention

01 October 2005

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Report of the European Parliament adopted on 27 September 2005 rejecting the Council's proposal (pdf) European Parliament press statement (link)

Latest version of the Council's proposal, 27.9.05 (pdf). The View of the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party on the Council initiative by five members states (November 2004).

Text of the European Commission proposals on the mandatory retention of telecommunications data (pdf) Full-text of the Commission's Extended Impact Assessment (pdf). The Commission's Impact Assessment is dismissive of the strong objections from the European Data Protection Supervisor and the national Data Protection Commissioners on the Article 29 Working Party stating that it expects them to "revisit their position(s)". Report from the European Data Protection Supervisor on the Commission's proposal (26.9.05) on the Commission's proposal.

Civil society letter to Members of the European Parliament on data retention proposals, from 21 NGOs

The Council's proposal, from five member states, combines the mandatory retention of traffic data by service providers and access to the data by law enforcement agencies (LEAs) - on which the European Parliament is only "consulted". The Legal Services of the Council and Commission said the proposal should be split in two with the first measure (data retention) coming under the "first pillar" on which the parliament would have powers of co-decision with the Council. The Commission has put forward a proposal on data retention under the "first pillar" which will be followed by another on access by LEAs.

Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor comments: "The issue of the legal basis is clear, there should be two separate measures. However, on the substantive issue the Commission's proposal on mandatory data retention presents as great a danger to privacy and civil liberties as the Council's - which will result in the wholesale surveillance of all communications in the EU with few if any constraints."<

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