Watchdog casts doubts over criminal records

By David Cronin

Date: 31/03/05

The EU's data protection watchdog is to cast doubts over a proposed European register of criminal convictions. Peter Hustinx will urge a thorough assessment of the implications of the register currently being set up, in his first annual report, which he will present today (31 March).

Hustinx, who is to oversee a budget of €3 million this year, argued recently that the scope of the register of criminal convictions was too wide as it covers both serious crimes, such as murder, and lesser ones, such as traffic offences. But the European Commission has argued that the scheme will respect the national data protection laws of EU states.

Hustinx will also point out that high privacy standards do not need to be an obstacle to effective police investigations.

In a recent paper evaluating his role in examining if proposed EU laws uphold data protection principles, he argued that "data protection and law enforcement do not necessarily represent conflicting interests".

"Both interests require the integrity and the security of personal data, a protection against manipulation of these data and an effective processing so as to avoid that too many personal data will be processed," the paper said.

He recognises that the protection of privacy, guaranteed by the Convention on Human Rights, may be interfered with for security reasons, but says this should only be done for "specified, explicit and legitimate purposes". The possibility of judicial review needs also to be catered for, he believes.

Gus Hosein from campaign group Privacy International agrees. "The law enforcement community sometimes gives the impression that if data protection didn't exist, this would make their jobs easier," he said. "That's not at all true."

Hustinx, European data protection supervisor since February 2004, says that his role was not only that of "a watchdog for human rights" but also to take into account the need for a free flow of information within the single market. As the EU aims at becoming a leading knowledge-based economy, this would necessitate a "huge and safe flow of data" and a robust system of privacy protection.

Hustinx will shortly publish a report on how the access to documents schemes run by the EU institutions protect the privacy of individuals.

Anticipation of the first Annual Report of the European Union's Data Protection Supervisor, presented on 31 March 2005. Peter Hustinx cast doubts over a proposed European register of criminal convictions and urged a thorough assessment of the implications of the register which was being set up at the time.

European Data Protection Supervisor: Publications: Annual Report: Annual Report 2004 http://edps.europa.eu/publications/Annual_Report_2004_EN.pdf

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