WRITTEN QUESTION E-1686/00 by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Implementation of EU's data protection directive.
Date: 2000-05-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Council of the European Union, EC Directive, European Parliament, Sweden, data protection, interpretation of the law, national implementing measure

C 89 E/72

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.3.2001

(2001/C 89 E/072)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1686/00

by Jonas Sj(cid:246)stedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Implementation of EU(cid:146)s data protection directive

(29 May 2000)

Have all Member States now ratified the data protection directive? In the summer of 1999, the responsible
Swedish Minister, Leijon, said that a new data directive should be drafted to clear up the doubts
concerning the publication of personal data on the Internet. How strictly have the Member States
interpreted who is entitled to publish names on the Internet? Is anyone entitled to publish journalistic
material on the Internet and how stringent is the requirement that publication must be for literary, artistic
or journalistic purposes?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(18 July 2000)

Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection
of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (1)
was transposed within the prescribed period (24 October 1998) by only four Member States. At present,
five Member States have not yet taken national measures to implement the Directive, and the Commission
has instituted infringement proceedings.

To the Commission(cid:146)s knowledge, the question of the publication of personal data on the Internet has so far
been raised only in Sweden. There the matter arose because of the first version of the Swedish law, which
placed greater restrictions on the transfer of personal data to third countries than the Directive. In the
meantime, the Swedish law has been amended to fall in line with the Directive.

The Directive applies to all processing of personal data, including publication on the Internet. It obliges
Member States to lay down exemptions or derogations from some of its rules for the processing of
personal data carried out solely for journalistic purposes or the purpose of artistic or literary expression
only if they are necessary to reconcile the right to privacy with the rules governing freedom of expression.
Any derogation or exemption must therefore follow the principle of proportionality in order to maintain a
balance with the right to privacy of the data subject. No derogation or exemption from the provisions on
security may be granted. The supervisory authorities responsible for this sector must in any case retain
certain ex-post powers.

Derogations and exemptions might not be necessary where the flexibility of various provisions of the
Directive or the derogations allowed under other specific provisions (which of course must also be
interpreted narrowly) already allow a satisfactory balance to be struck between privacy and freedom of
expression.

Where the Member State finds it necessary to establish certain exemptions, these are available to any
person processing personal data strictly for the purpose specified.

The Member States must therefore evaluate the interests involved while complying with the Directive(cid:146)s
criteria of strict purpose, necessity and proportionality.

To provide guidance on interpreting the Directive on this matter, the Working Party on the Protection of
Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data established by Article 29 of Directive 95/46/EC
adopted Recommendation 1/97 (cid:145)Data protection law and the media(cid:146)
(WP 1, available in all official
languages under the following address:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/media/dataprot/wpdocs/index.htm).

(1) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995.