COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF JUSTICE AND INTERNAL AFFAIRS

The EU Data Protection Commissioners Conference, meeting in Manchester on 24 and 25 April 1996, exchanged views on the Europol Convention.

On several occasions in recent years the Data Protection Commissioners of the EU Member States have stressed the need for the implementation of a coherent system of data protection principles in the Europol Convention. In a common statement in April 1995, the Data Protection Commissioners expressed their opinion on the Draft Convention, in particular with respect to the rights of the data subject.

The Data Protection Commissioners have noted with satisfaction that the Convention gives ample attention to data protection. They have also noted that Article 24 provides for a Joint supervisory body consisting of representatives of the national supervisory authorities.

Representatives of the Data Protection Commissioners - acting on the basis of the Ministerial Agreement of Copenhagen as extended by the Member States in March 1995 - have visited the Europol Drugs Unit on several occasions to be informed about the activities of their national liaison officers at EDU/Europol.

The Data Protection Commissioners are convinced that the period between the present EDU on the basis of the Ministerial Agreement of Copenhagen as extended and Europol on the basis of the Convention will be of the utmost importance for the practical realisation of the data protection standard of the Europol Convention.

In this period - before the entering into force of the Convention - the development of a Europol information system will take place and decisions will be made on the information architecture of Europol and the rules for the handling of analysis files. These decisions will be of crucial importance for the practical application of the Convention. For this reason the Data Protection Commissioners stress the need for anticipating the Joint Supervisory Body as foreseen in Article 24 of the Convention. As a matter of urgency consideration should be given to the establishment of a Provisional Joint Supervisory Body to prepare for the coming into force of the Convention and to contribute to the development of the Europol Information System.

Meanwhile, the Data Protection Commissioners would welcome timely information about the development of the Europol Information System, especially about the requirements and functional specifications of the systems to be developed, so that they could verify in advance if the privacy issues and principles related to the Europol Convention are properly considered.

They would also welcome being consulted on issues concerning the practical implementation of data protection principles in connection with development of the Europol Information System. For this purpose the Working Party on Police of the Data Protection Commissioners can be of assistance and it would willingly make available representatives for discussions with the Project Board and Project Team.