European privacy rules cannot be by-passed - Main contents

Member of the European Parliament Sophie in 't Veld (ALDE/D66) is critical of the Umbrella Agreement that was concluded between the EU and the US last week. The agreement governs the exchange of personal data with the US for the purpose of law enforcement and security. In 't Veld: "For years ALDE has called for clear rules between the EU and the US on the protection of personal data, safeguarding of the rights and privacy of Europeans. However, it is unclear how this agreement relates to the new EU privacy laws we expect to adopt before the end of the year. The agreement offers lower standards of protection, but it is unclear which rules apply: the agreement or the new EU privacy laws. It may be that the agreement takes precedence. In that case, the higher standards of our own EU legislation are circumvented. That would be unacceptable. To date, the Commission has failed to give a clear answer to this question."

Inadequate provision of information

Although the Commission already announced the conclusion of the agreement last Thursday, the Parliament did not receive the text until yesterday evening. In 't Veld: "This prevents the Parliament from exercising its supervisory powers. I do not understand why the Commission did not send the text to Parliament until a day before the debate. Up until the final conclusion, the negotiations have not been transparent and took place behind closed doors without a proper explanation of why that has been the case."

Low level of privacy protection

The Parliament is currently negotiating an important piece of new privacy legislation, a package consisting of a regulation and a directive. "This agreement with the US has a much lower level of privacy and rights protection than the new privacy legislation. And the EU legislation is the outcome of a democratic and transparent process, whereas the Umbrella Agreement was negotiated by civil servants, behind closed doors. It cannot be the case that this agreement will have priority over the new European laws. European privacy rules cannot be by-passed. We cannot vote on this agreement before we have legal certainty."

This afternoon, the Committee for Civil Liberties (LIBE) discussed the Umbrella Agreement.