18TH REPORT: PRÜM: AN EFFECTIVE WEAPON
AGAINST TERRORISM AND CRIME?
Letter from Franco Frattini, Vice-President
of the European Commission to the Chairman
Thank you for sending me the Select Committee's
report, "Prum: an effective weapon against terrorism
and crime?" which has received my fullest attention.
I note the Committee's concerns surrounding
the procuedure followed by the Council Presidency to transpose
essential parts of the Prum Treaty into the Union framework
without prior consultation, and without impact assessment and
assessment of the costs.
The Commission is committed to an inclusive
approach when developing and implementing EU policies, which means
consulting and assessing as widely as possible on legislative
proposals and major policy initiatives.
However, I am also aware of the momentum and
I acknowledge that the legislation driven forward by the Presidency
is an appropriate measure to encourage the further introduction
of the Principle of Availability.
I agree with you that it is of the utmost importance
that an adequate level of data protection should apply to the
processing of personal data on the basis of this Council Decision.
As a matter of principle, law enforcement cooperation must always
go hand-in-hand with respect for fundamental rights. Enhancing
law enforcement information exchange should be accompanied by
an appropriate level of protection of the right to privacy and
of personal data across the EU.
For that reason the Commission presented a proposal
for a Framework Decision on Data Protection as an overarching
data protection instrument in the third pillar stipulating a minimum
standard of data protection and binding upon all Member States.
The European Council of 21 and 22 June 2007 requested the Council
to reach agreement before the end of the year on the Framework
Decision on data protection, and the JHA Council of 12 June 2007
stated it intends to reach political agreement as regards this
proposal before 1 January 2008. Thus a parallel adoption of the
"Prum Decision" and the Framework Decision
on Data Protection can be anticipated.
Agreement on the Framework Decision on Data
Protection and implementation of the "Prum Decision"
on the basis of decision-making procedures laid down in Article
34 of the Treaty on European Union would then be followed by further
discussions on information exchange under the Principle of Availability.
18 July 2007
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