In 't Veld insists on immediate and thorough assessment of French decree with EU law by the European Commission - Main contents
In October the French government issued a decree to establish the Titres Électroniques Securisés (TES), a large new database that stores personal information on anyone holding a French identity card or passport, with the objective of combating identity fraud. Following two Written Questions to the European Commission on the conformity of this database with EU data protection law with unsatisfactory answers, In 't Veld and six colleagues have written the letter below to the European Commission to express their strong concerns. They urge the European Commission to assess the consistency of this decree with EU data protection law immediately and thoroughly.
Read the letter below:
To the attention of Věra Jourová
Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality
CC:
Gérard COLLOMB
French Minister of the Interior
Mounir MAHJOUBI
French Secretary of State for Digital Technology
Isabelle FALQUE-PIERROTIN
President of the Commission Nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL)
Guy MAMOU-MANI, Sophie PÈNE, Amal TALEB
Co-Presidents of the Conseil National du Numérique (CNN)
Brussels, June 6th 2017,
Dear Commissioner Jourová,
With reference to your answer to Written Question E-001298-17 on the consistency of the French ‘TES’ database with EU rules on the protection of personal data and CJEU case law[1], we, Members of the European Parliament, would like to express our strong concerns.
We deplore the fact that the European Commission intends to assess the French Decree 2016-1460 only in the framework of a Pilot Project on the fundamental rights review of EU data collection instruments and programmes. Despite our two Parliamentary Questions echoing also the concerns raised by the Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL)[2] and the Conseil National du Numérique (CNN)[3], the European Commission does not seem to take the assessment of the consistency of this decree with EU data protection law seriously. Considering that the French Decree will have a tremendous impact since it will affect all French citizens in possession of an ID card or passport, we are deeply concerned that the Commission does not intend to conduct a proper conformity evaluation.
The Commission should scrutinise at all times that EU law is properly applied in all the Member States, a principle which also applies to the assessment of this decree. An assessment of the decree in the framework of a Pilot Project on the fundamental rights review of EU data collection instruments and programmes is insufficient, all the more that the results will only be published in 2019.
We call on the Commission to fulfil its duty and ensure that the conformity of the decree with EU law is assessed immediately and thoroughly.
Yours sincerely,
Sophie IN ‘T VELD
Eva Joly
Marie-Christine VERGIAT
Nathalie GRIESBECK
Judith SARGENTINI
Cornelia Ernst
Jan Philipp Albrecht
[1] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getAllAnswers.do?reference=E-2017-001298&language=EN
[2] https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000033318979
[3] https://cnnumerique.fr/cp_fichier_tes/
https://cnnumerique.fr/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Avis-TES_CNNum_Web.pdf