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Data protection and the law enforcement directive: a procrustean bed across Europe?

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Abstract

This article analyses the legal challenges to the transposition and compliance of Directive (EU) 2016/680, focusing on the Austrian, German, Irish and British-domestic provisions implementing Art. 11, Art. 18 and Art. 25 of Directive (EU) 2016/680. Similarities and differences between these clauses will be examined and consideration given to national legislative particularities. The article gives an overview of and outlook on transposition issues relating to the legal provisions within these countries. It may seem that there is hardly any distinction between various domestic implementations, but this article demonstrates that the devil is in the detail.

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Notes

  1. Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation).

  2. Directive (EU) 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Council Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA.

  3. Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications).

  4. Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and replacing and repealing Council Decisions 2009/371/JHA, 2009/934/JHA, 2009/935/JHA, 2009/936/JHA and 2009/968/JHA.

  5. Drewer [3].

  6. Pellegrini [7], pp. 3-6.

  7. Pellegrini [7], p. 11.

  8. Pellegrini [7], pp. 28-29.

  9. Das Bundesgesetz zum Schutz natürlicher Personen bei der Verarbeitung personenbezogener Daten (Datenschutzgesetz – DSG), BGBl. I Nr. 165/1999, zuletzt geändert durch das Bundesgesetz BGBl. I Nr. 120/2017.

  10. NR:GP XXVI IA 188/A AB 99 S. 21. BR: AB 9958 S. 879. NR: GP XXVI IA 189/A AB 98 S. 21. BR: AB 9948 S. 879.

  11. Updated State of play in the Member States (12.4.2019) [4], p. 1.

  12. Gesetz zur Anpassung des Datenschutzrechts an die Verordnung (EU) 2016/679 und zur Umsetzung der Richtlinie (EU) 2016/680 (Datenschutz-Anpassungs- und -Umsetzungsgesetz EU - DSAnpUG-EU), Bundesgesetzblatt Jahrgang 2017 Teil I Nr. 44.

  13. Updated State of play in the Member States (12.4.2019) [4], p. 2.

  14. Vertragsverletzungsverfahren: Kommission leitet in 17 Fällen rechtliche Schritte gegen Deutschland ein [5].

  15. Data Protection Act 2018 of Ireland.

  16. Updated State of play in the Member States (12.4.2019) [4], p. 4.

  17. Data Protection Act 2018 of the United Kingdom.

  18. Updated State of play in the Member States [4], pp. 6-7.

  19. Art. 11, Art. 18, Art. 25 of the LED. Austrian Data Protection Act. German Federal Data Protection Act. Data Protection Act 2018 of Ireland. Data Protection Act 2018 of the United Kingdom.

  20. According to Article 3 (4) of the LED “ ‘profiling’ means any form of automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning that natural person’s performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements.”

  21. Opinion on some key issues of the Law Enforcement Directive (EU 2016/680) - wp258 [1], pp. 11-14.

  22. ErlRV 1664 BlgNR XXV. GP, 19 bzw AB 1761 BlgNR XXV. GP, 21.

  23. Moscibroda [6], p. 18.

  24. ErlRV 1664 BlgNR XXV. GP, 20 bzw AB 1761 BlgNR XXV. GP, 22.

  25. Bergauer [2], p. 286.

  26. Opinion on some key issues of the Law Enforcement Directive (EU 2016/680) - wp258 [1], pp. 25-29.

  27. Moscibroda [6], p. 19.

References

  1. Article 29 Working Party: Opinion on some key issues of the Law Enforcement Directive (EU 2016/680) - wp258 (2017). Available at http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/just/document.cfm?doc_id=48804

  2. Bergauer, C.: Überblick über die österreichische Umsetzung der Richtlinie (EU) 2016/680 für den Bereich der Strafverfolgung. In: Jahnel, D. (ed.) Jahrbuch Datenschutzrecht 2017, p. 286. Neuer Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, Vienna (2017)

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  3. Drewer, D.: Successful law enforcement operations in compliance with data protection rules: the safeguards of the Law Enforcement Directive and Europol. ERA Online Seminar (2020)

  4. European Commission: Data Protection Law Enforcement Directive (EU) 2016/680 transposition: Updated State of play in the Member States (12/04/2019) (2019). Available at https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupMeetingDoc&docid=30309

  5. Europäische Kommission: Vertragsverletzungsverfahren: Kommission leitet in 17 Fällen rechtliche Schritte gegen Deutschland ein (2019). Available at https://ec.europa.eu/germany/news/20190725-vertragsverletzungsverfahren_de

  6. Moscibroda, A.: Law Enforcement Directive 2016/680 Transposition. ERA Online Seminar (2020)

  7. Pellegrini, F.: Independent supervisory authorities and their role in the processing of personal data: Data Protection and the Law Enforcement Directive – Challenges in transposition and compliance. ERA Online Seminar (2020)

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  1. Legal Engineer & At-Large Advisory Committee Member at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, Vienna, Austria

    Matthias M. Hudobnik

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  1. Matthias M. Hudobnik
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Correspondence to Matthias M. Hudobnik.

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Hudobnik, M.M. Data protection and the law enforcement directive: a procrustean bed across Europe?. ERA Forum 21, 485–500 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12027-020-00645-3

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