WRITTEN QUESTION E-3432/00 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) and Sergio Berlato (UEN) to the Commission. Supervision of employees.
Date: 2000-11-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: United Kingdom, confidentiality, disclosure of information, labour law, protection of communications, protection of privacy, working conditions

3.7.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 187 E/7

Can the Council therefore say:

(cid:129) whether it is aware of this problem and what efforts have been undertaken to date?

(cid:129) whether there was any point at all in appealing to Yugoslav servicemen to desert when the only action
taken to follow up that appeal has been to close the borders to the deserters, deny them legal status,
and in some cases even threaten them with deportation?

(cid:129) whether the necessary financial assistance has been provided, in particular to Hungary, where most of

the deserters have found temporary shelter?

(cid:129) whether it intends to raise this matter in future talks with the new Yugoslav leadership and, if so, what

attitude it will take?

(1) OJ C 279, 1.10.1999, p. 411.

Reply

(24 April 2001)

1.
The Council is fully aware of the situation of deserters and conscientious objectors from the FRY
army after the end of the war in Kosovo and has duly noted the European Parliament Resolution of 6 May
1999.

2.
As the Honourable Member will recall, the Resolution was addressed to the Member States, which
have certainly followed the European Parliament(cid:146)s recommendations on those matters which come within
their sovereignty.

3.
The Council has therefore not dealt specifically with the question, but considers that the new
situation emerging in Belgrade might be conducive to a positive solution to the situation of Yugoslav
deserters and conscientious objectors. The Council will actively work towards that end. In this context it
has welcomed the Amnesty Bill which the Government of the FRY submitted recently to its Parliament and
which could apply to deserters and conscientious objectors.

(2001/C 187 E/008)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3432/00

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) and Sergio Berlato (UEN) to the Commission

Subject: Supervision of employees

(7 November 2000)

The Blair Government has authorised, as from 24 October 2000, all companies based in the UK to carry
out checks on their employees(cid:146) e-mails and phone calls without their prior agreement.

Given that Belgian law also authorises employers to check that their employees use communication
equipment provided by the company solely for professional purposes, albeit subject to their agreement,
does the Commission not consider that such methods are a blatant infringement of the principle of
protection of human rights which the same governments so often like to brandish?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(16 February 2001)

The Honourable Members are referring to UK Statutory Instrument 2000 No 2699 entitled (cid:145)The
Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice)
(Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000(cid:146)
which transposes Article 5.2 of Directive 97/66/EC (1). The UK has recently notified this legal instrument
to the Commission. We understand that the Honourable Members are also referring to Belgian law.

C 187 E/8

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.7.2001

In addition to the individual consent, it provides for different conditions to be fulfilled to ensure the lawful
surveillance of
(information, proportionality and necessity (cid:133)).
In particular, the individual(cid:146)s consent cannot be considered valid if it is given as globally as in the context
of the general employment relationship. The Belgian data protection authority has issued advice on this
issue along the lines indicated above on 3 April 2001.

the employees by the employers

In general, Article 5 of the Telecommunications data protection Directive requires Member States to ensure
confidentiality of communications by means of public telecommunications services and networks. The
Article therefore does not cover communications transmitted entirely over private networks, but it does
cover communications originating on private networks and terminating on public networks or vice versa.
For the recording of such communications consent of the users is required.

However, as it may be difficult to obtain explicit prior consent of both users for recording of commu-
nications which businesses need in order to keep proof of transactions, for instance of orders by telephone
or e-mail to buy shares, an exemption has been created in the same article for this type of recording that is
part of normal, lawful business practices.

Directive 95/46/EC (2) provides for the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons,
and in particular their right to privacy with respect to the processing of personal data. This Directive does
not contain any specific rules for the protection of employee data at the workplace but the general
principles for lawful processing of personal data must be respected. Surveillance of workers(cid:146) communica-
tions by their employers could be lawful, but only in restricted circumstances where the consent of the
parties is obtained or the legitimate interests of the employer override the interests for fundamental rights
and freedoms of the worker. In such cases the monitoring should be limited to what is strictly necessary
for a defined and legitimate purpose and for example be able either by technical means or a classification
of calls or e-mail to exclude private communications from such practices and the information obtained
must not be used for other incompatible purposes. In such cases the employer should inform the workers
of the surveillance.

Moreover, national regulations must comply with the general principles of Community law which,
according to the case law of the Court of Justice, also comprise fundamental human rights as laid down
by the European Convention on Human Rights, including the right to privacy.

In accordance with its Social Policy Agenda (3) the Commission is currently preparing a consultation of the
social partners on data protection in the employment context and related issues (monitoring of workers,
for example). This will provide guidance to the Commission in determining how this matter could be dealt
with at Community level.

The Commission would also like to draw the Honourable Members(cid:146) attention to the Charter of
Fundamental Rights of
for private and family life, home and
communication in Article 7 and for the protection of personal data in Article 8. In addition, Articles 21,
26 and 31 have specific relevance to workers and the protection of their private data.

the EU, which provides for respect

The Commission will examine whether the new UK regulations and any similar legislation in other
Member States are in line with Directives 95/46/EC and 97/66/EC.

(1) Directive 97/66/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 concerning the processing of

personal data and the protection of privacy in the telecommunications sector (OJ L 24, 30.1.1998).

(2) Directive 95/46/EC of the 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 (OJ L 281, 23.11.1995).

(3) COM(2000) 379 final.