Home page: www.statewatch.org
Statewatch Observatory on FOI in the EU: www.statewatch.org/foi/foi.htm
1. EU: Draft Council Conclusions on Global Approach to Migration
2. EP: Fighting terrorism can never be an
excuse to violate human rights, say MEPs
3. EU: JHA 6-7 December 2007, Brussels: Background Paper
4. EU ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS: Speech by the European Ombudsman
5. UK: Constitution Surveillance and Data
Collection: Information Commissioner
6. UK: National CCTV Strategy – Home Office
7. ECHR: Tillack v Belgium
8. DATA PROTECTION & PNR: Resolution International Conference
9. EU-KOREA-PNR: European air carriers will be required to transfer PNR
10. UK: Justice report: A British Bill of Rights: Informing the debate
11. EP takes the Commission to European Court of Justice: airport security
12. EU-PNR-AUSTRALIA: negotiations with Australia to give it access to PNR data
13. EU-SPAIN-ITALY: Rescue at sea – Information
from the Spanish and Italian delegations
14. EU-COMITOLOGY: Commission report setting out new procedures
15. GREECE: Vodafone faces court case in ‘bugging’ row
16. EU: In the wake of the UK scandal MEPs sent letter to Commissioner
17. EU: European Parliament sets the limit for
the fingerprinting of children at 12
18. EU-AIR-SECURITY: EU states clash with MEPs over new security measures
19. Italy: Renditions: Britel announces hunger strike
20. EU: Frattini under fire for defending Italy’s handling of Roma
21. UK-DETENTION-WITHOUT-CHARGE: Liberty: Terrorism pre-charge detention
22. EU: “On RFID ? The Next Step to THE INTERNET OF THINGS”
23. EU: High-level EU committee discusses an EU-wide database on protesters
24. UK: Border and Immigration Agency Complaints Audit Committee: Report
25. UK-TERRORISM: Security in a Global Hub – UK’s new border arrangements
26. ECHR: Marper v UK case: retention of fingerprints and DNA
27. COE: Procedures for blacklisting individuals
suspected of terrorist links are unworthy
28. Italy: Murder causes anti-Romanian backlash
and opens way for the expulsion of EU nationals
29. EU: Standing Committee of experts (Utrecht)
law enforcement authorities access to Eurodac
30. Updated: Statewatch online resources – UK
laws – Acts of Parliament: 1988 – ongoing
31. UK: Analysis: Criminal justice and immigration bill 2007
32. EU-REFORM TREATY: Two new analyses from Steve Peers
1. EU: Draft Council Conclusions on Mobility
Partnerships and Circular Migration in the
Framework of the Global Approach to Migration:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/dec/eu-dft-concl-global-appr-migration.pdf
2. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Fighting terrorism can
never be an excuse to violate human rights, say MEPs (press release):
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/dec/ep-terr-libe-prl.pdf
3. EU: JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS COUNCIL, 6-7
December 2007, Brussels: Background Paper:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/dec/eu-jha-6-7-dec-back.pdf
4. EU ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS: Speech by the European
Ombudsman to the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/dec/acceess-to-docs-reg-ombuds-ep.pdf
5. UK: The Select Committee on the Constitution
Surveillance and Data Collection (pdf) Evidence
from the Information Commissioner:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/uk-info-com-hol-2.pdf
6. UK: National CCTV Strategy – Home Office:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/uk-national-cctv-strategy.pdf
7. ECHR: Very important judgment by the European
Court of human rights: Tillack v Belgium (Press release):
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/echr-till-judg.pdf
“The Court held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights as a result of searches carried out at the home and office of the applicant, a journalist.”
8. DATA PROTECTION & PNR (passenger name
record):29th International Conference of Data
Protection and Privacy Commissioners Montreal,
Canada, 26-28 September 2007: Resolution on the
urgent need for global standards for safeguarding
passenger data to be used by governments for law
enforcement and border security purposes:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/dp-int-cmm-pnr.pdf
9. EU-KOREA-PNR: Letter to the Council Presidency
from the Article 29 Working Party (pdf) As of 1
December 2007, European air carriers will be
required to transfer passenger data to the Korea
Customs Service but the EU Data Protection
authorities say: “it has to be stressed that
Korea does not offer an adequate level of data
protection”: www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/eu-dp-korea.pdf
10. UK: Justice report: A British Bill of Rights:
Informing the debate (168 pages):
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/uk-justice-bill-of-rights-rep.pdf
11. European Parliament takes the Commission to
the European Court of Justice for its failure to
publish the rules on airport security (inc. liquids):
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/ep-ecj-com-secret.pdf
12. EU-PNR-AUSTRALIA: The EU is planning to open
negotiations with Australia to give it access to PNR data:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/eu-pnr-australia.pdf
Currently there are agreement with the USA and Canada
13. EU-SPAIN-ITALY: Rescue at sea – Information
from the Spanish and Italian delegations:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/eu-sp-it-med.pdf
Despite the title these delegations are calling for the creation of: “surveillance and alert systems, of a permanent nature, on the coasts of the European Union States”. They are proposing that the EU “integrate” the international Law of the Sea in its legislation including powers to board, remove people and impose sanctions on those who fail to obey.
14. EU-COMITOLOGY: Commission report setting out
new procedures for the exercise of implementing powers (COM 740, 2007):
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/eu-com-comitology-007-740.pdf
“Comitology” refers to the implementation of measures to put into practice legislative measures. Following a decision in July 2007 the European Parliament is to be given new powers of scrutiny – affecting over 200 measures.
15. GREECE: Vodafone faces court case in
‘bugging’ row – Parents believe their son was
murdered before he could blow the whistle (The Observer, link):
observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0%2C%2C331360614-102285%2C00.html
16. EU: In the wake of the UK scandal with the
loss of the personal details of 25 million people
the rapporteurs on the Visa Information System
(VIS) and the Schengen Information System II (SIS
II) in the European Parliament, Sarah Ludford and
Carlos Coelho, have sent a letter to Commissioner Frattini: Letter to Frattini:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/eu-ep-letter-frattini-data-security.pdf
“The data protection challenges presented by the large scale biometrics data bases, such as VIS, SIS II and Eurodac, is compounded by giving law enforcement access to these data-bases.”
17. EU: European Parliament and the Council of
the European Union on a collision course over the
age children should be finger-printed for travel
documents: Today the Civil Liberties Committee of
the European Parliament adopted a report on visas
for visitors entering the EU which sets the limit
for the fingerprinting of children at 12 years
old and above – the Council (the 27 governments)
want to set the standard as 5 years old and
above: European Parliament press release, 21 November 2007:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/eu-vis-ep-prel.pdf
As this measure is subject to co-decision by the European Parliament and the Council they have to agree on the final text. If the standard for fingerprinting children is set at 12 years old and above for visas the same standard would have to apply to EU passports and ID cards.
18. EU-AIR-SECURITY: EU states clash with MEPs
over new security measures (euobserver, link):
euobserver.com/9/25184
19. Italy: Renditions: Britel announces hunger strike
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/08iyaly-britel.htm
20. Frattini under fire for defending Italy’s handling of Roma (euactiv, link):
www.euractiv.com/en/migration+mobility/frattini-fire-defending-italy-handling-roma/article-168478
21. UK-DETENTION-WITHOUT-CHARGE: Liberty:
Terrorism pre-charge detention – Comparative law study:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/liberty-report-pre-charge-detention-comparative-law-study.pdf
Excellent report from Liberty: “This report demonstrates that the existing 28 day limit for pre-charge detention in the United Kingdom already far exceeds equivalent limits in other comparable democracies.”
22. EU: “On RFID ? The Next Step to THE INTERNET
OF THINGS” (EU doc no: 14681/07):
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/eu-rfid-of-things.pdf
Council Presidency paper setting out the future of “chips with everything”. The word “THINGS” can include clothes, cars, tickets, food etc, the “internet of things”…does not only link computers and communications terminals, but potentially any of our daily surrounding objects ? be they clothes, consumer goods, etc” and includes “nanoelectronics, which supplies the intelligence, memory, sensing, and Radio Frequency capability to RFID tags.” Overall: “RFID is an important building block for the future INTERNET OF THINGS which in the next two decades is likely to attain numbers of connected appliances and sensors of orders of magnitude estimated, respectively, in tens and hundreds of billions. It is, therefore, a major opportunity for Europe R&D and for Europe ICT industry…”
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments:
“Throughout the whole emphasis is on the global economic market potential. References to “privacy” and “data protection” are of course obligatory but lack any substance. If the current, and planned, EU laws are any guide privacy and data protection will be concepts without content”
23. EU: High-level EU committee discusses an
EU-wide database on protesters. The Article 36
Committee (high-level officials from national
Interior/Justice Ministries) which services the
EU’s justice and Home Affairs Council, discussed
at its meeting on 22-23 October 2007 (EU doc no: 15079/07):
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/eu-art-36-public-order.pdf
“Information sharing on violent trouble makers related to large scale events: The German delegation presented its paper about possible options for sharing information on violent troublemakers at large events. It was agreed that the SIS/SIRENE group would examine the possibility of using the SIS for this exchange of information.”
This issue came up at the recent G6 group of EU
states (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and
the UK meeting in Poland: Joint Declaration by
the Ministers of Interior of G6 States Sopot, 18 October 2007
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/oct/g6-poland-oct-07.pdf
including a direct reference to the mass protests
at the G8 Heiligendamm Summit earlier this year
the Ministers refer to the “acts of violence” at
“mass events” which affected the “security of
participants” and want to “continue the
discussion” on “providing security and public
order”. See Statewatch report: Heiligendamm G8
Summit: a chronology of protest and represssion:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/g8.pdf
24. UK: Border and Immigration Agency Complaints
Audit Committee: Report: full-text:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/CAC%20REPORT%200607.pdf
Damning report says in 95% of cases, those investigating the complaints had been from the companies under investigation. The report says:
“In the past year only 29% of cases alleging misconduct by named officials and contract staff were handled in time. Investigations into these misconduct complaints have in our assessment remained poor. Only 8% of complainants were interviewed, thus kicking off an inequitable consideration of the complaint. We found that 89% of investigations were neither balanced nor thorough, and that as a consequence, 83% of replies were indefensible.”
25. UK-TERRORISM: Security in a Global Hub
Establishing the UK’s new border arrangements (101 pages):
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/uk-border-review-report.pdf
and Prime Minister’s statement on terrorsm plans, 14 November 2007:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/uk-pm-statement-on-terroism-14-11-07.pdf
26. ECHR: Marper v UK case concerning the
retention of fingerprints and DNA: Summary of the case:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/echr-marper-submissions-15-03-07-final.pdf
and Detailed expert submission on DNA and fingerprints:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/echr-marper-witness-statement-dna.pdf
A decision is expected in February 2008.
27. COUNCIL OF EUROPE: Procedures for
blacklisting individuals suspected of terrorist
links are unworthy of the UN Security Council and
EU (12 November 2007, full-text of report) says PACE:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/coe-marty-terr-list.pdf
The Legal Affairs Committee of the Council of
Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), which today
approved a report by Dick Marty (Switzerland,
ALDE). These procedures, which are “unworthy” of
the UN and EU, must urgently be overhauled to
make them fairer. Earlier report by Marty: UN
Security Council black lists (March 2007):
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/coe-marty-terr-lists-march-07.pdf
28. Italy: Murder causes anti-Romanian backlash
and opens way for the expulsion of EU nationals:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/05italy-romania.htm
29. EU: Standing Committee of experts on
international immigration, refugees and criminal
law (Utrecht) submission to the Commission on:
Proposal to give law enforcement authorities access to Eurodac:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/standing-cttee-on-use-of-eurodac.pdf
“There are five core arguments why the intended proposal in our view would be unlawful: firstly, access to Eurodac data for law enforcement authorities would be irreconcilable with the present purpose limitation of the Eurodac regulation, secondly, there is no legal basis in EC law for extending the use of Eurodac with security purposes. Thirdly, such an extension is incompatible with basic principles of European law, international standards, and constitutional law of the Member States, the observance of which the Court of Justice ensures. Fourthly, data protection authorities lack sufficient means to protect the rights of asylum seekers and fifthly, the proposal will affect the integrity of Eurodac.”
30. Updated: Statewatch online resources – UK
laws – Acts of Parliament: 1988 – ongoing:
www.statewatch.org/uklaws.htm
31. UK: Analysis: Criminal justice and immigration bill 2007:
www.statewatch.org/news/2007/nov/06uk-crim-just-imm-bill.htm
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill
2007 is the 55th bill of its kind introduced by
the Labour government since 1997.
Despite its name, the bill is fundamentally
concerned with criminality. With just one out of twelve parts dealing with
immigration, and even then in connection
with criminality, it seems as rational to have
called it the Criminal Justice and
Policing Bill It can only be assumed that
its actual title is a result of the governments
continued reaction to right-wing,
anti-immigration sentiments that demand
action and continually conflate immigration with criminality.
32. EU-REFORM TREATY: Two new analyses from Steve
Peers, Professor of Law, University of Essex:
Analysis no. 3.6: Revised text of Part Five of
the Treaty establishing the European Community
(TEC): EU institutions (pdf) and Analysis no.
3.7: Revised text of Part Seven of the Treaty
establishing the European Community (TEC): Final
provisions (pdf) For full set of analyses and
background see Statewatch’s Observatory on the Constitution/Reform Treaty:
www.statewatch.org/euconstitution.htm
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