Data retention “reflection process”: Council working documents
A number of “working documents” discussed as part of the Council of the EU's “reflection process” on the mandatory retention of telecommunications data have been released following an access to documents request submitted to the Council by EDRi member Statewatch.
A number of “working documents” discussed as part of the Council of the EU’s “reflection process” on the mandatory retention of telecommunications data have been released following an access to documents request submitted to the Council by EDRi member Statewatch.
The documents provide an insight into some of the issues that have been discussed by Member States’ representatives and EU agencies who, since March 2017, have participated in a sub-group of the Council’s Working Party on Information Exchange and Data Protection (DAPIX) to “facilitate a common reflection process at EU level on data retention in light of the recent judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union”.
The documents include overviews of the legal framework for telecommunications data retention in the Member States, a presentation from Europol on the possibility of introducing a new measure on “targeted data retention”, and proposals for using the forthcoming ePrivacy Regulation to make possible some form of data retention.
It can be observed that the use of working documents does not serve the interests of transparency, as they are not automatically listed in the Council’s register of documents and will likely only become available to the public through dedicated requests or leaks.
Statewatch requested access to all minutes/“outcome of proceedings” produced by the Council working group “DAPIX (Friends of Presidency) – Data retention” and all working papers/non-papers/other documentation submitted to that working group. Some documents were released in full, others were released in censored form while others could not be released at all, on the basis of argumentation from the Council’s transparency department.
Working documents produced and discussed during the Council’s “reflection process” on data retention:
1. Europol Study on the data retention regime applying in the EU Member States (WK 3570/2017 INIT, LIMITE, 4 April 2017, pdf):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2018/feb/eu-council-data-retention-europol-study-laws-wk-3570-17.pdf
2. European Judicial Cybercrime Network (EJCN) on the effects of the CJEU judgement (WK 3596/2017 INIT, LIMITE, 4 April 2017, pdf):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2018/feb/eu-council-data-retention-ejcn-questionnaire-wk-3596-17.pdf
3. Data Retention – State of play in the Member States (WK 5206/17, LIMITE, 8 May 2017, pdf):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2018/feb/eu-council-data-retention-state-of-play-ms-wk-5206-17.pdf
4. A submission from Europol that has been censored: Data categories to be retained for law enforcement purposes (WK 5380/2017 INIT, LIMITE, 11 May 2017, pdf):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2018/feb/eu-council-data-retention-europol-data-to-be-retained-wk-5380-17-censored.pdf
5. Not a working document, but not previously published: Note from the Presidency: Targeted data retention – Exchange of views (9558/17, LIMITE, 23 May 2017, pdf):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2018/feb/eu-council-data-retention-targeted-9558-17.pdf
6. Censored document from the Council Presidency: Ensuring the availability of data for the purposes of prevention and prosecution of crime = Presentation of options and exchange of views (WK 9380/17 INIT, LIMITE, 12 September 2017, pdf):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2018/feb/eu-council-data-retention-availability-of-data-wk-9380-17-censored.pdf
7. Europol: Proportionate data retention for law enforcement purposes (WK 9957/2017 INIT, LIMITE, 21 September 2017, pdf):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2018/feb/eu-council-data-retention-europol-presentation-targeted-data-ret-wk-9957-17.pdf
8. Censored document from the Presidency: Availability of data and issues related to data retention – elements relevant in the context of e-Privacy = Exchange of views (WK 11127/2017 INIT, LIMITE, 10 October 2017, pdf):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2018/feb/eu-council-data-retention-eprivacy-reg-context-wk-11127-17.pdf
This is a shortened version of an article originally published by EDRi member Statewatch :
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2018/feb/eu-drd-reflection-docs.htm
(Contribution by EDRi member Statewatch, the United Kingdom)
