WRITTEN QUESTION P-0830/00

by Maria Berger (PSE) to the Commission

(10 March 2000)

Subject: Interception of international telecommunications

At the hearing on Data protection in the European Union held at the European Parliament on 22/23 February 2000, Duncan Campbell, the STOA representative, reported on the status quo of the Echelon international electronic eavesdropping system, revealing that information of economic importance was being intercepted by Echelon in Europe and that this harmed the European economy.

John Mogg, Director-General at the European Commission, and Martin Bangemann, Member of the European Commission, denied this, maintaining that Echelon was only press rumours, but their claims were clearly refuted by the statements of high officials such as Martin Brady, Director of the Australian Secret Service's Defence Signal Directorate.

There is a great deal of evidence that the Council and the Commission were very well aware of this eavesdropping system but took no action and deliberately did not inform the European Parliament.

Regardless of all this, the Council and Commission went so far as to change the European legislation to make it more favourable to the USA by following the main lines of an American statute passed in 1994 (CALEA) and taking into account that country's wishes in the Council Resolution of 17 January 1995(1) on the lawful interception of telecommunications.

1. Which Commission departments were aware of the interception of telecommunications in Europe and at what point in time, and what action was taken to counter it?

2. What measures does the Commission intend to take to protect electronic communications in Europe in future from eavesdropping and to guarantee the protection of personal and economic data?

3. Was the Commission aware that the Enfopol documents originated at meetings of the International Law Enforcement Telecommunications Seminar chaired by the USA and why was Enfopol 90 never discussed but only dealt with by a written procedure?

(1) OJ C 329, 4.11.1996, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(6 June 2000)

Neither the Member of the Commission responsible for the Internal Market nor the Director-General representing the Commission at the Parliamentary hearing of 12 and 13 February 2000 adopted a position on the existence of Echelon at that hearing. The Commission was informed about Echelon in the same way and at the same time as the Parliament through the study drawn up for the Parliament's STOA panel in January 1998.

Article 5 of Directive 97/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the telecommunications sector(1) obliges the Member States to prohibit all forms of interception or surveillance of communications carried out by means of a public telecommunications network and publicly available telecommunications services. Article 14.1 of this same Directive allows the Member States to adopt legislative measures to restrict the scope of some of the principles for data protection set out in this text, when such restriction constitutes a necessary measure to safeguard national security, defence, public security, and the prosecution of criminal offences. In accordance with Court of Justice case law concerning the strict interpretation of the field of application of exceptions to fundamental legal principles and civil liberties, the Commission will fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty to monitor the transposition and effective implementation of Directives in the Member States. As one of its monitoring duties, the Commission will examine in particular the proportionality of the legislation adopted on the basis of Article 14.1 of Directive 97/66/EC.

In addition, privacy enhancing technologies can give individuals greater control over the personal data concerning them and enhance the integrity of such networked data. The Commission has taken action to raise awareness of these technological developments (e.g. a workshop on privacy enhancing technologies). Finally, the information society technologies programme (IST, which is part of the 5th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development) contains an action line referring to technology building blocks for trust and security which focuses on technologies empowering users to consciously and effectively manage and negotiate their personal rights (IST II.4.1).

The Commission would like to point out that the abbreviation Enfopol is simply the administrative reference for the working documents produced by the working party on police cooperation. This working party carries out preparatory work for the Article 36 Committee, the Coreper and the Council in fields concerning cooperation between police forces in the Member States. The Enfopol references are simply an aid to circulating the meeting documents. These documents in no way originate at meetings of the International Law Enforcement Telecommunications Seminar, given that this forum for telecommunications experts is not a Community institution.

With regard to Enfopol 90, this is a 1995 Council Resolution on the lawful interception of telecommunications(2), which drew up a list of requirements in this field expressed by law enforcement agencies, in order to reach a definition of common technical standards for intercepting communications. This resolution, which is not binding, was indeed adopted by a written procedure on 17 January 1995 and published in the Official Journal(3). The Commission, which does not take part in such votes, has no information as to why the written procedure was chosen.

(1) OJ L 24, 30.1.1998.

(2) OJ C 329, 4.11.1996.

(3) OJ L 24, 30.1.1998.