The
move is intended to improve police and judicial cooperation in the
era of trans-national threats and crimes. It will, says the
Commission, remove the unpredictability of the existing exchange
mechanisms, which rely on agreements between the individual Member
States.
In general terms the Framework Decision will oblige Member
States to ensure that law enforcement relevant information –
namely, information that makes possible, facilitates, or
accelerates the prevention, detection or investigation of criminal
offences, controlled by authorities designated for this purpose –
is shared with the equivalent competent authorities of other Member
States and with Europol if they need the information to carry out
their lawful tasks.
The information will be shared either by online access, or by
transfer based on an 'information demand' after matching solicited
information with an index detailing the data that is not accessible
online.
The types of information that will be available will include DNA
profiles, fingerprints, ballistics, vehicle registration
information, telephone numbers and other communication data, and
names contained in civil registers.
Before information exchange on this new basis may begin, says
the Commission, Member States must first notify which authorities
will be concerned, and the conditions under which they can access
information. On that basis, a committee will match the equivalence
between the different authorities to ensure that similar
authorities will have access to information under comparable
conditions.
If prior authorisation (by a judicial authority, for example) is
required by national law before information can be accessed, that
authorisation must be given by the responsible authority within 12
hours after receipt of the request, unless one of the grounds for
refusal laid down in the instrument exists.
According to the Commission, the Framework Decision will apply
only to information exchanged in the phase before a prosecution has
started, and will not affect existing mutual legal assistance
mechanisms or the future European evidence warrant.
The Framework Decision will be backed up by a previously
announced proposal for a Council Framework Decision on the
protection of personal data processed in the framework of police
and judicial cooperation in criminal matters – in order to
safeguard against unlawful processing, says the Commission.
This second Decision, published by the Commission last week,
includes strict rules on confidentiality and security of
processing, judicial remedies, liability and also sanctions.
In addition it sets out a mechanism to ensure that personal data
are only transferred to those third countries and international
bodies that ensure an adequate level of data protections.
“Police services and judicial authorities of the Member States
have to be supported by decisive action at EU level,” said Franco
Frattini, Vice President of the Commission responsible for Justice,
Freedom and Security, on Wednesday. “Today the Commission
introduces an entire new concept in the field of police and
judicial cooperation in criminal matters the mere fact that
law enforcement information crosses borders will no longer be
relevant.”
The proposals have not been greeted with enthusiasm by civil
rights campaigners. According to a posting on the Statewatch
website, Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, warns, "when it comes to
the balance between the demands of state agencies and the rights
and privacy of individual there is no contest, the state wins every
time".
