Home page: www.statewatch.org
Statewatch provides 20 subject specific Observatories: www.statewatch.org/observatories.htm
1. EU: Commission proposals: Visas, reception, Eurodac, protection
2. EU-HEALTH RECORDS: Opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor
3. EP-CIA: Question to the Commission by the ALDE group (Liberal)
4. Council of Europe: Adopts Second-rate Treaty on Access to Information
5. UK: De Menezes family walk out of inquest
6. EU: BODY SCANNERS: Commission launches short consultation
7. EU-EDPS: Data Protection Framework Decision, press release
8. UK: 10,000 TASERS for UK police (Home Office)
9. ECJ: Press Release: the scope of the speciality rule
10. HUNGARY: Constitutional Court declares several rules unconstitutional
11. SPAIN: ACCESS TO INFORMATION
12. Racism in policing: the experience of Moroccan car enthusiasts’
13. EU: COUNTER-TERRORISM: Implementation of the Strategy
14. EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 27-28 November
15. EU: JHA: Restriction on the freedom of movement for people who have been convicted
16. GREECE: PROASYL REPORT: “The situation in Greece is out of control”
1. EU: Commission proposals:
– Council Regulation listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement (COM 716): www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/eu-com-visa-list-proposal.pdf
– Directive laying down minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers (COM 815):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/RCD%20II%20FINAL.pdf
– Regulation concerning the establishment of ‘Eurodac’ for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of Regulation (EC) No […/…] [establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person] (825/3):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/EURODAC.pdf
– Regulation establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person (COM 829):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/DUBLIN%20FINAL.pdf
2. EU-HEALTH RECORDS: Opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/eu-edps-opinion-patients-rights.pdf
The EDPS expresses:
“concerns about the fact that current Community healthcare-related initiatives are not always well co-ordinated with privacy and security considerations – especially with regard to the use of new information and communication technologies, thus hampering the adoption of a universal data protection approach towards healthcare. This is also evident in the current proposal where, although references to data protection can be found, these are mainly of a general nature and fail to specifically address the data protection dimension of cross-border healthcare.”
3. European Parliament-CIA: Question to the Commission by the ALDE group (Liberal) (pdf)
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/ep-alde-question-cia-com.pdf
4. Council of Europe: Council of Europe Adopts Second-rate Treaty on Access to Information: Civil Society Groups express disappointment, call for strong monitoring body: www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/coe-conv-access-prel.pdf
5. UK: De Menezes family walk out of inquest as coroner rules he was not unlawfully killed (Guardian, link)
www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/03/de-menezes-inquest
6. EU: BODY SCANNERS: Commission launches short consultation: deadline 19 December: The impact of the use of body scanners in the field of aviation security on human rights, privacy, personal dignity, health and data protection (press release, link):
ec.europa.eu/transport/air_portal/consultation/2008_12_19_en.htm
and Questionnaire (Word file):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/
Questionnaire%20Body%20Scanner.doc
7. European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS): Press release: EDPS sees adoption of Data Protection Framework for police and judicial cooperation only as a first step: www.statewatch.org/news/2008/nov/eu-edps-dp-fd-prel.pdf
“the EDPS repeatedly called for significant improvements of the proposal to ensure high standards in the level of protection offered and warned against a dilution of data protection standards.”
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments:
“The process of adopting this Framework Decision was a democratic fiasco with law enforcement officials deciding on issues of privacy and peoples’ rights and coming down on the side of the state every time. While the views of the European Parliament, the EDPS, national Data Protection Commissioners and civil society were virtually ignored the demands of the USA to retain unregulated bilateral access to personal data exchanges was endorsed.”
See Statewatch Observatory on: Data protection in the EU:
www.statewatch.org/eu-dp.htm
8. UK: 10,000 TASERS for UK police (Home Office):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/nov/uk-tasers-roll-out.pdf
9. EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE: Judgment: Press Release: The Court explains the scope of the speciality rule which states that a person surrendered under a European Arrest Warrant for the purpose of prosecution for a criminal offence may be prosecuted only for that offence:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/ecj-speciality-rule-prel.pdf
10. HUNGARY: The Hungarian Constitutional Court declares several rules of the act regulating the criminal registry (hereinafter: CRA) unconstitutional – the Court nullified rules on the scope of the registry, on data transfer from the registry and on rules of dactyloscopic and photo registry:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/03hungary-court-ruling.htm
11. SPAIN: ACCESS TO INFORMATION: Report claims right of access to information is not fully recognised:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/nov/03spain-access-to-info.htm
12. Racism in policing: the experience of Moroccan car enthusiasts’ club members on their trip to Spain:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/01spain-gt-club.htm
13. EU: COUNTER-TERRORISM: Implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan to Combat Terrorism (June-November 2008):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/nov/eu-terr-action-plan-report.pdf
Implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan to Combat Terrorism:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/nov/eu-terr-laws-implementation.pdf
EU Counter-Terrorism Strategy
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/nov/eu-terr-strat-discussion-report.pdf
The discussion paper includes the following comment on Europol (JSB is the Joint Supervisory Body of data protection commissioners)::
“While the JSB has acknowledged the fact that there is a need for Check the Web to include some personal data, their extreme interpretation of the data protection rules means that a number of high value analysis documents received from Member States cannot be input in the system, some of them because they contain the name of well-known terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden…”
The Counter-Terrorism Coordinator is keen on the idea of a “European Security Label” and says:
“Such an EU Security Label would stimulate innovative technologies that provide the best value for money in the long term, while ensuring interoperability. By introducing a compulsory ‘privacy & freedom-compliance requirement’, the Label would at the same time express respect for European civil liberties.”
The idea of a “European Security Label” was raised in the Future Group report, see: Statewatch’s: The Shape of Things to Come:
www.statewatch.org/analyses/the-shape-of-things-to-come.pdf
and the European Security Research and Innovation Forum (ESRIF) report in September, see: European Security Research and Innovation Forum intermediate report:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/oct/esrif-intermediate-report.pdf
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments:
“The background documents to the Future Group and the ESRIF report show that PET (privacy enhancing technology) with a European Security Label would allay fears that law enforcement and internal security agencies could gain access to communications and personal data. But equally they show that the agencies are opposed to PET because this could be exploited by criminals and others. The likelihood is that such an official “Label” would give the impression that privacy would be respected while built-in trap-doors would give the agencies access whenever they want”
14. EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 27-28 November 2008 – Press release, 27 November – including story below:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/nov/eu-jha-prel-prov-nov-27-08.pdf
“B” Points Agenda:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/nov/eu-jha-b-pts-nov-27-08.pdf
“A” Points Agenda (adopted without discussion):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/nov/eu-jha-a-pts-nov-27-08.pdf
Background note:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/nov/104280-JHA-background.pdf
15. JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS COUNCIL, Brussels, 27 November: Restriction on the freedom of movement within the EU for people who have been convicted of serious crime in the past or for “repeated offences” (which may be “low level”). Ministers are discussing the adoption of Council Conclusions: Free movement of persons: abuses and substantive problems: Draft Council conclusions on abuses and misuses of the right to free movement of persons (16151/1/08, 26 November 2008):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/nov/eu-restric
tions-free-movement-conclusions-nov-08.pdf
These say that: “Only those exercising their rights in the spirit of the Treaty should benefit from freedom of movement.” While referring to third country nationals the proposals would apply to EU citizens as well and allow Member States to deny entry to those who:
“break the law in a sufficiently serious manner by committing serious and repeated offences”
The scope of “repeated offences” is undefined and could apply, for example, to protectors who take part in cross-border demonstrations.
These Conclusions are based on a proposal put forward by the UK: Statewatch Analysis: The UK proposals on EU free movement law: an attack on the rule of law and EU fundamental freedoms by Professor Steve Peers – University of Essex:
www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-72-eu
-attack-on-fundamental-rights-08.pdf
The UK proposal includes considering: “the cumulative damage caused by continuous low-level offending can amount to a sufficiently serious threat to public policy” United Kingdom delegation: Free movement of persons: abuses and substantive problems – Draft Council Conclusions (EU doc no: 15903/08. 18 November 2008):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/nov/eu-uk-
proposal-on-free-movement-15903-08.pdf
16. GREECE: PROASYL REPORT: “The situation in Greece is out of control”: Research into the situation of asylum seekers in Greece:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/nov/greece-proasyl-report.pdf