Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-30-Speech-4-015"
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, following on from the letter sent by this House to the Council and from the hearing of the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs regarding data protection in the European Union, you have today invited the Council and Commission to comment on the possible existence of the Echelon system. This system is suspected of intercepting telecommunications beyond the bounds of any legal framework of justice and home affairs activities. I must thank you for having invited the Council to speak on this issue. This gives us the opportunity not only to clarify our position but also to inform you about all the measures taken by the Council on the lawful interception of telecommunications.
I must also speak briefly about the data protection rules within the Schengen Information System. This system provides for an authority responsible for protecting personal data. This common supervisory authority is composed of the supervisory authorities of the various Member States and ensures respect for the system’s principles on data protection, particularly those on the content of the data obtained and the use of this data. Full protection of the interests of individuals is therefore ensured in accordance with the instruments ratified by the Member States.
Finally, I must mention data protection within the Third Pillar. The Member States and the Commission are examining this issue in order to determine to what extent data protection should be provided in a horizontal perspective for the whole of the Third Pillar. Various aspects of this debate are being carefully considered, such as, for example, the questions of whether a common supervisory authority for all the instruments of the Third Pillar should be created or whether it would be sensible to create a common secretariat for these authorities. Furthermore, the Portuguese presidency intends to submit in due course, for the Council’s consideration, initial ideas on the possibility of developing general principles on data protection, which would apply to all the instruments of the Third Pillar. These ideas are still being developed. However, I can tell you that the Portuguese presidency, with full respect for the Community mechanisms, will duly inform the European Parliament about future developments in this work.
This, briefly, is the Council’s position on the work in progress or already concluded in the area of the lawful interception of telecommunications. To conclude, I must say that we fully understand the political concerns underlying this Parliament initiative. The presidency wishes to stress that it is ready to closely monitor Parliament’s work in this area as it considers that there is every reason not to compromise when principles of freedom, democracy and respect for human rights and the fundamental freedoms of individuals are at stake.
The European Union must respect the fundamental rights which are guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights and which result from the common constitutional traditions of the Member States on general principles of Community law. The Council will do everything to safeguard these principles, particularly with regard to the right of every person to respect for their private and family life, their home or their correspondence, in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights which forms the cornerstone of our political work. It is common knowledge that work is in progress, in which this House is fully involved, and whose aim is to produce a Charter of Fundamental Rights which must apply within the Union.
This is why the Council presidency wants to firmly state its position on the possible existence of a system for intercepting telecommunications in the European Union, beyond the bounds of any legal framework. The Council cannot accept the creation or existence of such a system which does not respect the laws of the Member States and which violates the fundamental principles aimed at protecting human dignity. I must stress this very firmly.
Having said this, the presidency considers that everything must be done to create an area of freedom, security and justice at European level. Our aim is to build a more open and secure Europe founded on an attachment to our common fundamental values. In this respect, it will sometimes be necessary to allow telecommunications to be intercepted when strictly essential to protect these values and in the interests of justice. This interception, which must be in proportion and have clearly defined limits, must pursue specific aims such as combating organised crime. When exercising this right which is fully enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, the presidency considers that the case law of the European Court of Human Rights must also be respected to ensure that the right balance is achieved between interference in private life and the public interest. In certain clearly specified and truly exceptional cases, the interception of telecommunications may be justified under these conditions. We want to act on this point with total transparency so that the European Parliament is kept fully informed of the progress of work within the Council on the lawful interception of telecommunications.
There are also some other areas which we want to tackle. These were listed in the letter, which I have mentioned, as set out by the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, and they were also contained in the letter, which your President has just sent to the Council. These areas are police cooperation, judicial cooperation in criminal matters, Europol, Schengen and the initial discussions currently in progress on data protection within the Third Pillar. The Committee raised these matters and I have been asked to comment on them in the letter from your President.
In the area of police cooperation, the Council adopted a resolution on 17 January 1995 on the lawful interception of telecommunications. This resolution, published in the Official Journal, contains a list of specifications for the Member States authorising them to lawfully intercept telecommunications with regard to network operators and service providers. This list allows each Member State to adapt its own national legislation so as to identify and overcome the difficulties in introducing technical specifications for interception in modern telecommunications systems.
In November 1995, a code of conduct containing this same list of specifications indicated in the resolution was established between the Fifteen and Norway. The governments of the United States of America, Canada and Australia informed the Council that they would not sign this code of conduct but that they would follow an identical policy. In 1999, the Council submitted an initiative on the lawful interception of telecommunications with regard to new technologies for assessment. Immediately after the start of this work, the Council consulted the European Parliament on this proposal on which this House issued an opinion in May 1999. The Council is continuing the work on this issue but has not yet adopted a final position. In its meeting on 28 May 1998, the Council adopted conclusions on encryption and law enforcement to guarantee the integrity and confidentiality of digital communications which present considerable advantages for electronic commerce and the private lives of individuals and which can also help to prevent fraud and other crimes. However, we are aware of the concerns about the negative aspects, which the proliferation of encryption services for confidentiality purposes may have in the fight against certain forms of crime. This is why it was decided to closely monitor the degree of use of encryption technologies, particularly by and for organised crime. These measures must be proportional and carefully balanced with regard to other important interests, particularly bearing in mind the need to protect the fundamental rights specified in the European Convention on Human Rights and the operation of the internal market, with the aim of ensuring the development of electronic commerce.
In the area of judicial cooperation in criminal matters, particular attention should be paid to the draft convention on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters between the Member States. Over four years of negotiations on this draft convention are nearly complete. The Justice and Home Affairs Council, in its meeting on 27 March, examined the most important remaining questions, including those on the interception of telecommunications. I am very pleased to announce that a full political agreement on measures for interception was achieved at this meeting. We therefore hope that the adoption of the act establishing the convention will take place during the Justice and Home Affairs Council in May.
Measures have also been specified on data protection in the Europol Convention. It must be stressed that Europol does not have powers of investigation and does not carry out work of an operational nature. Rather, Europol’s mission is to analyse the data supplied by the Member States or third parties. It cannot gather this data directly. I will clarify this for you. It is the responsibility of each Member State to send data to Europol. Therefore, any supervision of data protection is carried out in the Member State of origin with full respect for the Council of Europe Convention of January 1981 and the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of September 1987. In this way the general rules on the protection of data sent to Europol by the Member States are respected. The convention therefore states that the latter must answer the question of whether the data has been properly gathered in the Member States. So it is the responsibility of each Member State to correct, delete or amend data sent to Europol where it becomes apparent that this data is incorrect or infringes the rules established in this respect. It must be stressed that Europol cannot, on its own, determine if the data sent by a Member State has been properly gathered. Each national supervisory authority has an essential role to play in this area."@en1
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