Europol: Home Secretary questioned
01 March 1995
The UK Home Secretary Michael Howard was questioned on 16 March by the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Communities, chaired by Lord Slynn, conducting an inquiry into Europol. He told the Committee that the Europol Drugs Unit in the Hague had processed 300 requests from the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) in the UK. These included requests for licence plate numbers, names and addresses and criminal records on named individuals.
Mr Howard was cautious in giving full support to Europol. Asked about the inclusion of terrorism in its planned objectives he said: "Europol must develop a track record before it can be trusted". On the issue of establishing an appeals procedure for individual complaints he was opposed to the European Court of Justice having a role. He said he "might" support an independent tribunal but there was "the difficulty of exporting British standards".
The Select Committee members spent some time questioning him on the incorporation of the Council of Europe recommendation on the use of police data (1987) in the draft Europol Convention. Mr Howard said this was not "necessary or desirable" because they would be "taking into account the principles" of the recommendation. One of the Select Committee members commented that this was "not a very strong commitment".
Lord Bethell, who had been an MEP, asked Mr Howard how he could find out if his name was on the Europol computer. Should he ask an MP or MEP or perhaps a lawyer? Mr Howard said he should probably consult his legal adviser - this caused some surprise as it seemed that Mr Howard had completely forgotten about the Data Protection Registrar. Lord Aldington reminded him that to contact the DPA might be the best course.
Mr Howard told the Select Committee that his "preferred" form of redress for the citizen against Europol would be through national courts, not the European Court of Justice. Lord Wilberforce asked him directly: "What is the objection to the European Court of Justice?" Mr Howard responded: "If there is no need for it to be involved then it is not desirable". The majority of EU governments are strongly in favour of the European Court of Justice being involved, so too are earlier reports from the Select Committee.
House of Lords Select Committee on the European Communities, 16.3.95.