STATEMENT ON EUROPOL - FOR THE CHAIRMAN OF THE
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF JUSTICE AND INTERNAL AFFAIRS
The EU Data Protection Commissioners Conference, meeting in Manchester on
24 and 25 April 1996, exchanged views on the Europol Convention.
On several occasions in recent years the Data Protection Commissioners of
the EU Member States have stressed the need for the implementation of a coherent
system of data protection principles in the Europol Convention. In a common
statement in April 1995, the Data Protection Commissioners expressed their
opinion on the Draft Convention, in particular with respect to the rights
of the data subject.
The Data Protection Commissioners have noted with satisfaction that the
Convention gives ample attention to data protection. They have also noted
that Article 24 provides for a Joint supervisory body consisting of
representatives of the national supervisory authorities.
Representatives of the Data Protection Commissioners - acting on the basis
of the Ministerial Agreement of Copenhagen as extended by the Member States
in March 1995 - have visited the Europol Drugs Unit on several occasions
to be informed about the activities of their national liaison officers at
EDU/Europol.
The Data Protection Commissioners are convinced that the period between the
present EDU on the basis of the Ministerial Agreement of Copenhagen as extended
and Europol on the basis of the Convention will be of the utmost importance
for the practical realisation of the data protection standard of the Europol
Convention.
In this period - before the entering into force of the Convention - the
development of a Europol information system will take place and decisions
will be made on the information architecture of Europol and the rules for
the handling of analysis files. These decisions will be of crucial importance
for the practical application of the Convention. For this reason the Data
Protection Commissioners stress the need for anticipating the Joint Supervisory
Body as foreseen in Article 24 of the Convention. As a matter of urgency
consideration should be given to the establishment of a Provisional Joint
Supervisory Body to prepare for the coming into force of the Convention and
to contribute to the development of the Europol Information System.
Meanwhile, the Data Protection Commissioners would welcome timely information
about the development of the Europol Information System, especially about
the requirements and functional specifications of the systems to be developed,
so that they could verify in advance if the privacy issues and principles
related to the Europol Convention are properly considered.
They would also welcome being consulted on issues concerning the practical
implementation of data protection principles in connection with development
of the Europol Information System. For this purpose the Working Party on
Police of the Data Protection Commissioners can be of assistance and it would
willingly make available representatives for discussions with the Project
Board and Project Team.
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