WRITTEN QUESTION No. 682/96 by Thomas MEGAHY to the Council. Treatment of British football supporters in other Member States
Date: 1996-03-27
Institutions: European Parliament, MEGAHY
Subjects: EU national, United Kingdom, exchange of information, free movement of persons, public safety, violence













EUR-Lex - 91996E0682 - EN






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91996E0682

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 682/96 by Thomas MEGAHY to the Council. Treatment of British football supporters in other Member States  


Official Journal C 280 , 25/09/1996 P. 0063 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-0682/96 by Thomas Megahy (PSE) to the Council (27 March 1996)Subject: Treatment of British football supporters in other Member StatesBritish football supporters are being placed on international 'hooligan' blacklists despite not having been convicted of any offence. Some have already suffered imprisonment and deportation without trial in the Netherlands and other Member States. The problem appears to arise from the practice of entering the name of any British person arrested at a football match (or during a journey connected with one) on to a computer record, even if no charges are brought, if the individual concerned is subsequently acquitted, or if the offence is a trivial matter involving no disorderly or violent conduct (as was the case for 123 supporters of Leeds United arrested in Eindhoven for the technical offence of not carrying their passports). These computer records are then made available to police forces in different Member States.Will the Council take steps to ensure that systems established to control violent criminals will no longer be used to harass innocent people exercising their right to move freely around the European Union in the course of a lawful activity?Reply (27 June 1996)1. Public safety at sporting events is the subject of the European Convention of 19 August 1985, prepared under the auspices of the Council of Europe, and of two Council Recommendations of 30 November 1993 and 22 April 1996 respectively. The European Convention covers spectator violence and misbehaviour at sporting events and in particular at football matches. The Council's Recommendation of 30 November 1993 concerns the responsibility of organizers of sporting events and that of 22 April 1996 contains guidelines for preventing and restraining disorder connected with football matches.2. The organizers of sporting events and the police services of the Member States are responsible for applying the Convention and the Recommendations. To that end, a network of correspondents has been established which enables the Member States to exchange information on the number of spectators and the different means of transport likely to be used by them. The sole aim of this exchange of information is to strengthen security at sporting events.3. It will be recalled that the protection of information is covered by the European Convention of 28 January 1981 for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data and Recommendation R(87)15 of the Committee of Ministers (Council of Europe) of 17 September 1987 regulating the Use of Personal Data in the Police Sector.