EU:EU: Interoperability - Meijers Commitee comments
01 February 2018
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EU
Interoperability
of EU databases - The Meijers Committee
- Unintended consequencies?
- Targeting third country nationals
- Casting a very wide net?
17.2.-18
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The Meijers committee have prepared: Comments on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems (police and judicial cooperation, asylum and migration) 12 December 2017, COM (2017) 794 (pdf).
Their comments include:
Unintended consequences?
"According to the
explanatory memorandum, access ‘to data is reserved exclusively
for duly authorised staff of the Member State authorities or
EU bodies that are competent for the specific purposes of each
information system and limited to the extent that the data are
required for the performance of tasks in accordance with these
purposes.’
[emphasis added throughout]
The proposal as such does not alter the specific purposes
of the EU databases involved. However, on the basis
of the proposal, every designated authority of Member States
will be able, via the European Search Portal, to learn about
the fact that information on a third-country national is stored
in one of the EU databases. In other words, the access of authorities
to the European Search Portal is not restricted to their specific
competence or task, whereas this specific competence or task
currently limits their access to the specific EU databases.
Therefore, information retrieved via the European Search Portal
will establish that somebody is included in, for example, Eurodac
or in SIS II. This implies a widening of the purpose of these
databases: even if access to the personal file in this database
is not allowed because lack of authorisation, the authority
will have gained knowledge of the existence of the file.
Moreover, the mere knowledge that a person’s data are
included in a particular database gives an authority a view of
that person’s actions, which can in itself be an interference
with the right to data protection laid down in Article 8
of the Charter (and with Article 7 of the Charter on the right
to privacy). This requires that the proportionality of this access
should be assessed."
Targeting third country nationals
"A specific issue in this context relates to the fact that the proposal concerns the interoperability of systems which do not only have different purposes, but also include different categories of data subjects.The systems include data of individuals because they are linked to criminal behaviour or illegal border crossing, as well as bona fide persons (included in Eurodac and VIS). It should be explained interoperability will not lead to the mixing up of these categories."
Casting a very wide net?
"Specifically, the explanatory
memorandum emphasizes this differentiated treatment between EU
citizens and third-country nationals in view of the goal of preserving
security in the EU: ‘Whilst not directly affecting EU
nationals (the proposed measures are primarily focused on third-country
nationals whose data is recorded in an EU centralised information
system), the proposals are expected to generate increased
public trust by ensuring that their design and use increases
the security of EU citizens. This justification basically means
that third country nationals should be subject to additional
security checks - even if there is no connection to any illegal
behaviour - in order to make EU citizens feel more secure.
Furthermore, the explicit objective of the proposal of facilitating
identity checks of third country nationals by police organisation
within the EU territory, to see whether information on this person
is stored in one or more of the EU databases, will enhance the
possibility of third-country nationals (or those considered to
be third-country nationals) being stopped for identity checks."
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