WRITTEN QUESTION E-2318/03 by Armando Cossutta (GUE/NGL) to the Council. European citizens' right to privacy.
Date: 2003-07-14
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU national, United States, data transmission, fundamental rights, international cooperation, protection of communications, protection of privacy, summit meeting

C 70 E/84

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

20.3.2004

The Commission has emphasised that the issue of synthetic drugs must remain a top priority for the
Union and its Member States. This has also been emphasised by the Justice and Home Affairs Ministers of
the EU. Following on from a meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in September 2002 an
implementation plan on actions to be taken in regard to the supply of synthetic drugs has been adopted by
the Council. This plan proposes actions to address a number of issues with regard to the supply of
synthetic drugs and identifies appropriate bodies to take the work forward.

(2004/C 70 E/086)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2318/03

by Armando Cossutta (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(14 July 2003)

Subject: European citizens’ right to privacy

(originally ‘Total

Information Awareness’,

The EU-US summit was held on 25 June this year. One of the topics was or should have been the TIA
project
subsequently changed to ‘Terrorism Information
Awareness’), basically a project to provide a gigantic apparatus for gathering and analysing information
obtained from the most varied sources, ranging from existing data banks to commercial transactions, from
people’s movements to intercepted communications. According to Stefano Rodotà, the guarantor of the
Italian privacy watchdog, we are witnessing a new dimension of surveillance, which increases the power of
the State to obtain any personal data, irrespective of who gathered it and the original purpose for which it
was gathered. The European Parliament, via its President Pat Cox, made its views clear: ‘we cannot let the
US dictate law in Europe’.

1. What was the outcome, as regards the TIA, of the summit meeting between the EU and the US held
on 25 June this year?

Does the Council not consider that US legislation on the subject cannot and must not have
if necessary, the most appropriate way of settling such issues is by

2.
extraterritorial validity and that,
international treaty?

3.
Did the Council uphold the principle that it is unacceptable that the United States should gather, by
any means at its disposal, information resulting from communications freely exchanged between European
citizens?

4. What steps will the Council take to safeguard the privacy of European citizens?

Reply

(8 December 2003)

The Council would inform the Honourable Member that there was no discussion of TIA at the summit
with the United States on 25 June 2003. The Council notes the points on which the Honourable Member
has expressed concern.

The Council would remind the Honourable Member that at the end of 2002 it approved an agreement
between Europol and the United States covering, inter alia, the transmission of personal data. The Europol
Joint Supervisory Body (the authority for the protection of personal data) gave a favourable opinion
concerning that agreement. The EU’s position concerning the protection of personal data is therefore well
known to the United States. The Council
intends to insist to the United States authorities (cid:1) as the
Commission is doing (cid:1) on full respect for the European position and the need to find an appropriate
solution that meets European standards. The Council also invites the Honourable Member to refer, in this
connection, to the position stated on the transmission of data concerning passengers in Opinions 6/2002
and 4/2003 of the Article 29 Working Party on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing
of Personal Data.