Europlod plan to share DNA and biometic data comes under fire

HORSE TRADING in Brussels over plans for European police forces to share DNA and fingerprints has reached another milestone.

The European Parliament said today that it had voted to accept the Treaty of Prüm, a plan for data sharing between European police forces, on the proviso that its protections for ordinary citizens were beefed up.

MEPs said last week that there was nothing wrong in principle with European police sharing data when investigating terrorism and cross-border crime. But the Prüm proposals being pushed through by member states were still lacking.

Police should be banned from sharing DNA and fingerprint data about innocent people, said Euro MEP Barbara Dührkop Dührkop.

The proposals are vague about what data police forces should be allowed to share and in what circumstances.

The parliament also said the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) should be given the power to oversee data exchanges between European forces. Prüm recommends national data protection authorities keep an eye on exchanges, but it is thought the EDPS could act as a powerful hub for vetting police activity.

It also wants Prüm to concede authority to legislation winding its way through the Brussels sausage machine that would provide data protection in the third pillar (DP3), or in police and security matters.

DP3 was somewhat neglected while Prüm was being pushed through. It was on the cards before Prüm was even a sparkle in the Ray Ban perched on the European security lobby's forehead.

The security hawks thought European democratic traditions so cumbersome that they established Prüm outside of European law in 2005, with the backing of seven countries. Once it was up and running, the European Council introduced it as legislation as a fait accompli.

The EDPS last year spoke out at Prüm's democratic legitimacy. The extent of that criticism will be tested when the proposals and MEP's caveats come before Council. µ