Google – AFP, 27 November 2013
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A pictures
shows binary code reflected from a computer screen in a
woman's eye on October
22, 2012 (AFP/File, Leon Neal)
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Brussels —
The EU on Wednesday laid down steps Washington must take to restore trust after
a huge spy scandal, including giving EU citizens the right to US legal redress
to protect personal data.
"Massive
spying on our citizens, companies and leaders is unacceptable," EU Justice
Commissioner Viviane Reding said, adding there was "now a window of
opportunity to rebuild trust which we expect our American partners to
use".
An umbrella
agreement being negotiated on EU-US data protection "has to give European
citizens concrete and enforceable rights, notably the right to judicial redress
in the US whenever their personal data are being processed in the US,"
Reding said in a statement.
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EU Justice
Commissioner Viviane Reding
speaks during a press conference in
Brussels, on
September 17, 2013 (AFP/File,
John Thys)
|
A key
concern in Europe -- where memories of surveillance by fascist and communist
dictatorships remain alive -- is the pressure Washington exerts on giant US
companies to hand over personal data, including those of EU citizens, on
national security grounds.
Up to now,
Brussels and Washington have reconciled their differences in a 2001 'Safe
Harbour' agreement meant to ensure US companies respect EU norms on commercial
use of personal data.
In the EU,
personal data protection is considered to be a basic right whose commercial use
must be carefully controlled.
Safe
Harbour now needs to be tightened up, Redding said, setting a deadline of
mid-2014 to agree the changes with Washington.
Among 13
suggested changes, she included a provision requiring US companies to make
clear the extent to which US authorities have the right to collect and process
personal data they may have gathered.
The
"national security" justification often cited for such government
access must also be used only if strictly necessary.
Reding said
the EU should conclude reform of its own data protection laws and be actively
involved to ensure that US reforms promised by President Barack Obama
"also benefit EU citizens".
Highlighted
by the reported US tapping of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone,
data protection has become a hugely sensitive topic since intelligence leaker
Edward Snowden released evidence of a massive network of US spy operations on
friend and foe alike earlier this year.
The uproar
prompted the European Parliament to call for talks on a massive free trade deal
with the United States to be scrapped, along with the Safe Harbour system.
But the
European Commission stressed again Wednesday that data protection standards
would not be part of the negotiations on the planned Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership.
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Data protection has become a hugely
sensitive topic since intelligence leaker
Edward Snowden described a massive
network of US spy operations on friend and foe alike earlier this year (AFP/File, Prakash Singh) |
Malstroem
meanwhile said the Commission, the EU's executive arm, would not suspend data
protection accords "just because of press articles" -- an apparent
reference to reports based on Snowden's leaks.
The
Passenger Name Record (PNR) system for airline passengers and the Terrorist
Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP) "provide effective safeguards to protect
the fundamental rights of European citizens," Malstroem said.
The
"clear and effective guarantees in place" allow the Commission to
"make sure that the US authorities stick to agreed rules," she said.
The EU will
continue alert and monitor "the lawful implementationof EU-US agreements
on data transfers," she added.
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US Senator Christopher Murphy (r) congressman Gregory Meeks speak
in Berlin over the NSA scandal. Photo: dpa |
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