On 9 March the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the implementation of the Data Protection Directive of 1995 (95/46/EC), based on an own-initiative report by the Italian radical Marco Cappato. The report is very critical about the lack of adequate privacy protection in Europe.

The report centres on data protection within the third pillar (the area of justice and internal affairs). It urges the Commission to finally create the promised 'legal instrument' to protect privacy in the third pillar, especially concerning Europol, Eurojust and all other third-pillar organs.

The parliamentary resolution dedicates very harsh words to the transfer of PNR-data: "(...)national and European laws on the transfer of personal data to third countries have been flagrantly breached by the transfer of transatlantic passengers' personal data to the US law-enforcement authorities (...) the attitude of the Commission, the Member States and some privacy protection authorities - particularly those which under national law have the power to block data transfers - has been basically to connive at this violation of the law and of the principle of legality."

When it comes to mandatory data retention for law-enforcement purposes, the report signals that such laws "are not in full conformity with the European Convention on Human Rights and the related case law, since they constitute an interference in the right to privacy, falling short of the requirements of: being authorised by the judiciary on a case-by-case basis and for a limited duration, distinguishing between categories of people that could be subject to surveillance, respecting confidentiality of protected communications(...)."

To help Member States develop a better policy, Parliament asks the Commission to produce a document on the legal validity of general data retention and urges the EU institutions to launch an open and transparent debate on the basis of this document.

Earlier, Cappato was the rapporteur for the Directive of 2002 on Privacy and electronic communications. After the possibility of general data retention was introduced last minute in an amendment on Article 15 of that directive, Cappato asked to have his name removed from the record as rapporteur.

The resolution was passed by 439 votes in favour, 39 against and 28 abstentions.

EP Resolution on the first report on the implementation of the data protection directive 2003/2153(INI) http://servizi.radicalparty.org/documents/index.php?func=detail&pa...