Tag: EU

New leaked documents show that European Union Member States, led by Germany, are systematically working to destroy the fabric of European privacy legislation.

Today, leading digital rights organizations — including Access, EDRi, Privacy International, and Panoptykon — published new leaked documents showing that European Union member states are working to undermine the right to personal data protection for citizens.

As the 8th round of the TTIP negotiations just ended in Brussels, Access reflects on the state of play of this major transatlantic trade deal.

Tomorrow morning, Legal Services in the EU will release this long-awaited study. Access has obtained a copy of the document, which concludes that the EU’s powers to legislate on data retention matters are now limited.

The E.U.’s current Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmström, was confirmed this morning as Commissioner for Trade during a vote in the International Trade (INTA) Committee of the European Parliament. This vote follows a hearing that took place on Monday September 29th during which Members of the European Parliament (MEP) questioned the Commissioner-designate for three hours.

On April 8, 2014, Europe’s highest court, the ECJ, released a long-awaited decision on the controversial Data Retention Directive, confirming what we all knew: the blanket surveillance mandated by the Data Retention Directive is neither necessary nor proportionate.

On Friday, July 25th, the German Government raised concerns over the current chapter on the controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”) included in the trade agreement between the EU and Canada – known as CETA – currently being discussed on both sides of the Atlantic. This announcement is indicative of the growing resistance to ISDS in trade agreements taking place in the European Union at the moment.

Earlier this week, European Digital Rights (EDRi), with the help of Access, Bits of Freedom, and Vrijschrift, published a citizens answering guide to the public consultation on the Investor-State Dispute Settlement launched by the European Commission in March and open for comment until July 6.

Forced data localisation is getting more attention in the aftermath of Edward Snowden’s revelations of mass surveillance. We unpack some of the misconceptions about it and explore the impact on fundamental rights and civil liberties.

Today’s historic decision reopened the debate on the necessity and proportionality of communications data retention in the EU and around the world.