EDPS opinion on Europol decision: more consistency required for cooperation with other EU bodies

Last Friday, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) issued his opinion on the proposed Council decision on Europol. While welcoming the proposal which has some well advanced data protection provisions, the EDPS recommends various critical improvements to match Europol’s increased use of personal data.

Peter Hustinx, EDPS, says: «Europol will be more in line with other EU-bodies. The main message is that this leads to greater consistency and better data protection, which are important conditions for the well functioning of Europol’s information system. We have to make sure that exchange with other EU bodies, such as OLAF, will be based on a consistent level of data protection and good cooperation in supervision».

The objective of the proposed Council decision is to provide Europol with a new and more flexible legal basis. However, this will entail important changes to Europol’s mandate, notably in terms of data exchanges. This confirms the urgent need for a more consistent underlying framework for data protection in police cooperation. Furthermore, as opposed to today, efforts will be taken to ensure interoperability with national and European databases. All this calls for improved data protection, and the EDPS advises to:

 ensure that data collected from commercial activities are accurate;

 apply strict conditions and guarantees when databases are interlinked;

 harmonise rules on, and limit the exceptions to, the data subject’s right of access;

 include guarantees for the independence of Europol’s data protection officer (who internally ensures lawful processing of personal data).

EDPS’ operational role when Europol is moved into the EU structure will be to supervise processing of staff data and transfers of data from EC institutions and bodies to Europol.

Download the Opinion at PDF format

Avis du CEPD sur la décision Europol