Dutch EU presidency speeds up data retention

The Dutch government is ‘in principle positive’ about the proposal to
store the telecommunication traffic data of all 450 million EU citizens
for a period of 12 to 36 months. This point of view is expressed in a
letter to the Dutch parliament about the proposal. As president of the EU,
the Netherlands wish to press ahead with the proposal: “The Netherlands
have a vested interest that the proposal takes priority.”

The proposal was made by the UK, Ireland, France and Sweden on 28 April
2004, and followed by a questionnaire to the 25 EU member states about
their current and intended data retention laws. Answers to the
questionnaire had to be given by 29 July 2004, but the results will
probably only become available at or after the next meeting of the working
party on co-operation in criminal matters on 27 and 28 September 2004.

The Netherlands wish further investigation into the needs of the police
and intelligence services. “The needs of law enforcement need to be mapped
nationally. This applies in particular to data related to internet.” Also,
the Dutch government questions the scope of the proposal, “if providers
would be obliged on the basis of this draft framework decision to retain
data that are not regularly kept for their own business purposes.”