Estelle Massé

The Culture and Education (CULT) and Legal Affairs (JURI) Committees of the European Parliament voted today on the European Telecom Single Market proposal, tabled in September 2013 by the Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes. The proposed Regulation, which principally aims at completing a “European Single Market for electronic communications and achieving a Connected Continent” includes provisions putting network neutrality at stake.

Access commends the opinion by the Advocate General, as it confirms the serious concerns repeatedly raised by civil society (see here, here and here, for example) and other institutions on the necessity and proportionality of mandatory blanket data retention in the EU. The mass retention of the activities of citizens, outside of the context of any criminal investigation, poses significant challenges to the very foundations of the rule of law and international human rights, including Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.

In the 14th and 15th hearings held by the committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), Commissioner Viviane Reding, the Brazilian Parliamentary Inquiry Committee and Glenn Greenwald delivered important testimonies before the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). MEPs then presented the second part of their conclusions and working documents, the result of the thirteen inquiry meetings on the mass-surveillance programmes which aim to catalogue their recommendations aimed at preventing further violations of fundamental rights.

In the 12th and 13th hearings held by the committee for civil liberties (LIBE), Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) presented their first conclusions and working documents after having conducted eleven inquiry meetings on the mass-surveillance programmes. The LIBE committee will then use theses conclusions and documents as basis to put forward recommendations aimed at preventing further violations of fundamental rights, and ensuring credible, high-level protection of EU citizens’ personal data via adequate means, in particular the adoption of a fully-fledged data protection package.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s speech at the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights in Geneva says the internet is under threat and calls for action.

With the European Parliamentary elections in May rapidly approaching, the European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on a single market for electronic communications is on the fast track. The Regulation, which will be binding on all 28 member states, includes rules on net neutrality, however, they suffer from several dangerous loopholes. Problematically, given the current legislative timeline, fundamental rights concerns may not be given sufficient attention.

Net neutrality gets at the heart of many of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose 65th anniversary we celebrate today. While freedom of expression and access to information are often mentioned in the same breath as net neutrality, net neutrality also has an important privacy component. Recently proposed legislation in the EU offers the opportunity to enshrine net neutrality into law, potentially adding important protections for user communications.

In the 10th and 11th hearings held by the committee for civil liberties (LIBE), Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) focussed on the IT security of the EU Institutions and a possible discussion between the European Commission and the Council of the EU on mass surveillance.

In the 7th, 8th and 9th hearings held by the LIBE committee, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) focussed on violation of law, IntCen and mass surveillance in EU member states and the Freedom act respectively.