EU Council Urged to Resolve Data Retention Issues
Competing modes for retention of communications traffic data in Europe will be discussed at next week’s Justice & Home Affairs (JHA) Council meeting, the U.K. Home Office said Wed. Propelled by the U.K. Presidency -- which wants a mandate on storage of Internet and telecom transmission data in place before its term expires in Jan. -- officials are moving ahead on the Council of the European Union’s (EU) framework decision and the European Commission’s (EC) directive. But agreement on key provisions of the framework decision remains elusive, an Oct. 3 Council memo made clear.
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JHA ministers want accord on their framework decision this month, a goal the U.K. Presidency endorses, said the document, which summarizes a Sept. 30 JHA Council discussion and sets out the draft’s latest version. But the European Parliament (EP) twice has rejected the measure, several nations have entered general and parliamentary “scrutiny reservations” and the EC has adopted a competing measure, the report said. And JHA members have not resolved several issues.
The draft decision would let member states decide if they want to reimburse telcos and ISPs for costs arising from increased data retention duties. The draft encourages govts. to consult with industry on cost and practicality. A Presidency proposal to let member states allow exceptions to general data retention obligations based on a service provider’s market share and network size relative to the market’s size was opposed by most JHA members and withdrawn, the Council document said. But Austria and Germany want it reinserted, leaving the cost issue open.
The draft framework decision also would allow member states a 2-year transition period in which they could choose not to require retention of unsuccessful call attempts, enhanced media and multimedia services and Internet access and communications services. For one reason or another, most countries dislike the provision. But ministers have been asked to lift their reservations and agree to the new package, with its Internet chat retention/transitional period.
Many more issues around data retention are unresolved than are reflected in the Council memo, said Joe McNamee, EU policy dir. for the Brussels lobbying firm Political Intelligence, including how to address convergence of fixed, mobile and Internet Protocol communications.
The EC unveiled its data retention proposal last month (CD Sept 22 p6). Unlike the Council’s offering, the draft directive would set fixed retention periods for phone and Internet traffic data, and foresees requiring reimbursement of communications services providers’ costs. The EC urges more legislation to beef up protections for personal data captured in law enforcement activities. The Council draft deals with privacy by referring to the EU data protection directive and several data security principles.
In response to the launch of the EC data retention proposal, the Presidency said it would wait 2 months for the Commission and Parliament, which last week rejected the framework decision again, to reach agreement, European Digital Rights (EDRI) reported Wed. If they can’t, the Presidency will introduce the measure for decision at the final JHA Council meeting Dec. 1, EDRI said.
“The EU can kiss the goal of unified data retention periods goodbye” if the Council version prevails, said Axel Spies, a lawyer representing the German Competitive Carriers Assn. (VATM). Some countries will opt for 6 months, others 48, and then there’s the 2-year implementation phase, he said.