Personal Data Protection and the First Implementation Semester of the Lisbon Treaty: Achievements and Prospects
| Date | 01 September 2010 |
| Published date | 01 September 2010 |
| DOI | 10.1177/203228441000100307 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
362 Intersentia
PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION AND
THE FIRST IMPLEMENTATION SEMESTER
OF THE LISBON TREATY:
ACHIEVEMENTS AND PROSPECTS
I A*
ABSTRACT
is article presents the last developments arisen in the protection of personal data in
the sector of police and judicial cooperation in crimin al matters since the implementation
of the Treaty of Lisbon and their e ects on the general legal protection of personal data
in the Eu rop ea n U nio n. It al so d e nes and describes the e lements that should be included
in a general legal framework dedicated to the protection of personal data applicable
within the whole territory of the Europe an Union. is legal framework would guarantee
the e ciency of the prevention and repression systems of the European Union, while
insuring a real protection of personal d ata.1
Keywords: mini mum core principles; new legal framework; personal d ata protection;
police and judicial cooperation in c riminal matters; proportionalit y principle
1. INTRODUCTION
On the occasion of her hearing i n the European Parliament, Mada m Viviane Reding,
who was then Commissioner-designate for Justice, Human Rights and Citizenship
and designate Vice-President of the European Commission, made the following
declaration:
“We now – nally! – have the new Lisbon Treaty. is mean s a true revolution for the whole
eld of Justice and Home A airs.
* Assistant & rese archer at the Inst itute of European Studies of the Univers ité Libre de Bruxel les,
lawyer at the Bru ssels Bar.
Personal Data Protec tion and the First Implement ation Semester of the Lisbon Treat y
New Journal of Eu ropean Crimina l Law, Vol. 1, Issue 3, 2010 363
(…)
I am convinced that the Lisb on Treaty is the rig ht moment to reorient our policies in the eld
of Justice, Fundame ntal Rights and Citizenship, and to tu rn them into practical results.
ere can be no freed om without both security and jus tice. However, I believe that during the
past decade Europe’s policies have too o en focused only on s ecurity. And neglected justice.
e Lisbon Treaty gives us the oppor tunity to bring now a new balance into our policie s to
strengthen the r ights and freedoms of our citizen s.
I intend to make full u se of this re-orientation of EU polici es made possible by Lisbon”.1
e Treaty of Lisbon which came into force on 1 December 2009 indeed heralds big
changes for the European Union.2 Prominent changes included more quali ed
majority voting in the C ouncil, increased involvement of the European Parlia ment in
the legislative process through extended co-decision with the Council and the
elimination of the pil lar system.3
An important area of change is in the sector of police and judicial cooperation in
criminal matters4, particu larly as regards the protection of personal dat a.
e most striking change for data protection under the Lisbon Treaty is the
provision in Article 16 TFEU which replaces a nd expands on the old Article 286, and
establishes an ex plicit right to data protection.
e second novelty introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon fal ls in the data protection
regime for police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters as provided for by
Article 87, paragraph 2, point a), of the TFEU. is new article now allows for the
adoption of measures relative to the collection, storage, processing, analysis and
exchange of relevant information by means of the applicable common legislative
procedure, except where such data are processed in the context of operational police
cooperation. In other words, the ordinar y legislative procedure will now involve the
Council and the Eu ropean Parliament.
1 European Parliament Hearing of Vivi ane REDING, C ommissioner-desi gnate for Justice,
Fundamental R ights and Citizensh ip and designate Vice-President of the Eu ropean Commission,
European Parliament, 12 Januar y 2010, available at htt p://ec.europa.eu/commission _2010–2014/
reding/pdf/mandate/reding_ speaking _points_media_summary.pdf.
2 By virtue of the rst article, par agraph 3, of the Treaty on European Union, t he European Union
replaces and succeeds the European Community.
3 Between 1993 and 2009, t he European Union (EU) legally c onsisted of three pilla rs. is structure
was introduced w ith the Treaty of Ma astricht on 1 November 1993, a nd was abandoned on
1 December 200 9 with the entry i nto force of the Treaty of Lisbon. e rst pil lar was the Europea n
Communities pi llar which handled economic , social and environmenta l policies. It was the only
pillar wit h a legal persona lity. e second pil lar, i.e. the Com mon Foreign and Secu rity Policy
(CFSP) pillar took care of forei gn policy and mi litary mat ters. Final ly the last pill ar brought together
co-operation in the ght against cr ime. i s pillar was origi nally named Justice a nd Home A airs
(JHA).
4 On this topic see M. Dony, Droit de l ’Union européen ne, Bruxelles, Editions de l’Université de
Bruxelles, pp. 4 45–454.
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