23. CO-OPERATION WITH THIRD STATES
(3710-01r1)
Letter from Lord Tordoff, Chairman of
the Committee, to Barbara Roche MP, Minister of State, Home Office
At its meeting on 20 October Sub-Committee E
(Law and Institutions) considered the Draft Model Agreement on
Co-operation with Third States. The Committee decided to hold
the document under scrutiny. There are two matters on which the
Committee would be grateful for further information.
As its response to the Committee's Report on
the Third Country Rules (29th Report, 1997-98) indicates, the
Government shares the Committee's view that the inclusion of human
rights clauses as standard in agreements with third parties would
be beneficial in terms of sending a political signal, providing
an effective safeguard, and ensuring consistency in the European
Union's external relations. In her letter of 2 October 1998 Kate
Hoey said that the Government would seek to ensure that such clauses
were included in each agreement. In its Explanatory Memorandum
to Document 1088/98 (Rules governing the transmission of personal
data by Europol to Third States and Third Bodies) the Minister
said that the United Kingdom has continued to stress that human
rights clauses should be standard in all Europol's agreements
with Third Parties. In its letter of 11 March 1999 the Committee,
having considered Doc 1088/99, expresses regret that the rules
contained no obligation to include human rights clauses in agreements
with Third States and Bodies.
The Committee notes that the Draft Model Agreement
(Doc 3710-01r1) contains no human rights clause. It would be helpful
if you could explain why this is. Is it the case that there is
opposition to the idea on the part of other Member States or Europol?
Without naming those States and breaching any confidentiality,
we would be grateful if you could identify the strength of any
opposition to the inclusion of human rights clauses as standard
and the reasons being given for excluding such clauses.
The second matter concerns the data protection
implications of the Model Agreement. The Explanatory Memorandum
indicates that your Department is consulting with other Government
Departments and enforcement agencies in the UK. The Committee
would be grateful if you could confirm that the views of the Data
Protection Registrar have been sought.
21 October 1999
Letter from Barbara Roche MP, Minister
of State, Home Office, to Lord Tordoff, Chairman of the Committee
Thank you for your letter of 21 October regarding
the draft model agreement on co-operation between Europol and
Third States. You asked about human rights safeguards, and whether
the Data Protection Registrar had been consulted.
As Kate Hoey said in her letter of 2 October
1998, the Government shares the view of the Committee that human
rights clauses should be included in each Agreement. Whilst there
has been some discussion about the Model Agreement in recent meetings
of the Europol Management Board and Europol Working Group, the
focus of discussion has been the draft Council Decision, in particular
Article 2 of the Decision on the particular countries and organisations
with which Europol should begin to negotiate agreements.
The Third Country Rules are largely silent on
human rights matters, but they provide (in Article 4.4 of the
rules concerning the receipt of information by Europol from third
parties) that information which has clearly been obtained by a
third state in obvious violation of human rights shall not be
stored in the Europol information system or any Europol analysis
file. Wording on these lines has been incorporated into the draft
Model Agreement, in Article 6, but it has not yet been discussed
substantively in the Management Board or Working Group. The next
meeting of the Management Board will be on 16 November, when the
United Kingdom intends raising the need to incorporate into the
Model Agreement wording on human rights safeguards. We intend
referring to a Commission Communication of 23 May 1995 which sets
out three elements for human rights clauses in First Pillar Agreements
with Third Countries, ie:
(a) a clause stating that respect for democratic
principles and human rights is an essential element;
(b) a reference in the Preamble to universal
and/or regional human rights instruments common to both Parties;
and
(c) a non-execution clause which could trigger
a suspension of co-operation.
We intend suggesting that these elements should
be a basis for considering what would be appropriate wording in
Europol's agreements with Third Countries.
I am taking this opportunity to enclose the
latest version of the draft Model Agreement (3710-01r3). This
will not formally be deposited for scrutiny as it is not materially
different from the version you have already seen. In addition,
we anticipate a revised version following the meeting on the 16th.
On data protection, I can confirm that copies
of the various versions of the Model Agreement were sent to the
Data Protection Registrar. We omitted to say this in the Explanatory
Memorandum but will ensure that such consultations are mentioned
in the future.
17 November 1999
Letter from Lord Tordoff, Chairman of
the Committee, to Barbara Roche MP, Minister of State, Home Office
Thank you for your letter of 17 November which
was considered by Sub-Committee E (Law and Institutions) at its
meeting on 1 December.
The Committee regrets that you have not been
able to give a full reply to the questions raised in my letter
of 21 October. It nevertheless decided to clear the document from
scrutiny. The Committee will, however, continue to keep the co-operation
question of the use of human rights clauses in Europol's agreements
under review and would be grateful if you would keep it informed
of developments.
2 December 1999
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