European parliament adopts data retention directive

The European Parliament gave its final vote on 14 December 2005 on the
European mandatory data retention directive. The Parliament approved the
compromise that was reached between Council of Ministers of Justice (JHA
Council), representatives from the Commission and the leaders in the
European Parliament of the social-democrat and Christian-democrat groups.
(see EDRI-gram 3.24)

The final text was approved with 378 for, 197 against and 30 abstentions.
The two biggest parties, the PSE (socialist group) and PPE (conservative
group) overwhelmingly voted in favour -only 39 PPE MEPs voted against (10
abstained) and 24 PSE MEPs voted against (2 abstained). The Green/EFA and
GUE (left group) voted against while the ALDE (liberal group) split with 25
MEPs voting in favour and 37 against (including Mr Alvaro, the rapporteur).
Rapporteur Alexander Alvaro (Liberals) was so disappointed by the procedure
and the outcome that he asked to have his name removed from the report.

The European Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini hailed a “victory for
democracy” – and EU compromise, meanwhile Mr. Alvaro said : “By voting as we
(the Parliament) did today we create a precedent where Council need only say
‘jump!’ and Parliament cries ‘how high?'” Alvaro substantially criticised
that data must now be stored for a period of 6 to 24 months, while member
states may adjust maximum retention periods at will. The fact that no
guideline on cost reimbursement was approved raises the danger of
fragmentation in the single market for the important telecoms sector. The
directive is no longer limited to the fight against terrorism and organised
crime, but now includes all serious crimes, as defined by each individual
member state.

The EU Parliament included in the types of data to be retained the telephone
calls location data, SMS and internet use. This includes unsuccessful call
attempts if the company already stores such data.

Within 18 months, all member states of the EU will have to introduce
mandatory data retention for telephony and internet data, for 6 to 24
months. Each member state will have to decide for which period it will
retain
the data. The national adoption will probably not be without problems
because the national laws could be tested in the national constitutional
courts if they breach any fundamental citizens’ rights.

Also Ireland has announced its intent to take the Directive to the European
Court of Justice for a supposed breach of the EC treaty, while
some MEPs are considering contesting the Directive at the European Court of
Human Rights because the directive lacks adequate safeguards.

MEP Charlotte Cederschiöld (PPE-DE) asked the Commission already on 15
December when it intended to begin and complete the impact assessment of the
Directive and whether the Commission guaranteed that the data retention
proposal was not contrary to fundamental rights in accordance with Article
8.2 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Articles 7 and 8 of the
Charter of Fundamental Rights. No answer has been received so far.

The adoption of the directive is in opposition with some strong civil
society activities, including the EDRI campaign that raised 58 000
signatures against such a directive in Europe. The petition is available in
21 languages and has been supported by 85 organisations and companies. The
act was highly criticized by a number of consumers organisations, as well as
electronic communication industry associations or journalists associations
( see EDRI-gram 3.23)

The percentage of votes and which MEP from which country and from which
group has voted.
http://p166.null.priv.at/temp/14-12-2005_ep_vote_legislative_resolution_on_data_retention.pdf

EU adopts Big Brother directive, ignores industry and civil society (14 12
2005)
http://wiki.ffii.org/DataRetPr051214En

Two-page overview of the effects of the most important amendments(14 12
2005)
http://www.ffii.org/~jmaebe/dataret/plen1/summary.pdf

Ireland to contest data retention law at EU Court (14 12 2005)
http://euobserver.com/9/20548

Data Retention Directive webpage on the EU Parliament website
http://www.europarl.eu.int/oeil/file.jsp?id=5275032

Question from MEP Charlotte Cederschiöld (PPE-DE) on Data retention
directive ( 15 12 2005)
http://www.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade3?PROG=QP&L=EN&SORT_ORDER=D&S_REF_QP=%25&LEG_ID=6&AUTHOR_ID=2110

EDRI-gram : Final push for single EP vote on data retention (5 12 2005)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.24/EPvote

EDRI-gram : Petition closed: 58.000 signatures (21 11 2005)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.23/petition