The New Police and Criminal Justice Data Protection Directive: A First Analysis
| DOI | 10.1177/203228441600700102 |
| Date | 01 March 2016 |
| Author | Vagelis Papakonstantinou,Paul de Hert |
| Published date | 01 March 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Analysis & Opinion |
New Journal of Eu ropean Crimina l Law, Vol. 7, Issue 1, 2016 7
ANALYSIS & OPINION
THE NEW POLICE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
DATA PRO TECT ION DI R ECTI VE
A First Analysis
P H and V P
1. INTRODUCTION
Allegedly the Police a nd Criminal Just ice Data Protection Directive (henceforth, the
“Directive”) is the little-known, much overlooked part of the EU data protect ion
reform package that stormed into the EU leg islative agenda towards the end of 2015.
Its counterpart, reg ulating all other personal data processi ng activities, t he General
Data Protection Regulation (hencefort h, the “Regulation”), is undoubtedly the text
that fascinated legi slators, legal scholars and even journalist s over the four years since
their simultaneous relea se in rst dra formats, with its numerous noteworthy
novelties: the right to be forgotten, the rig ht to data portability, data protection impact
assessments, privacy by desig n, consistency and one-stop-shop mechanisms a mong
EU Data Protection Authorities etc. Compared to this impressive list the text of the
Directive indeed sounds munda ne and unimagi native. However, we rmly believe
that the repercussions it wi ll have in the EU personal data processing scene
surrounding t he work of law enforcement authorities, once it comes into e ect, w ill be
fundamental a nd will be equa lly felt by everybody exact ly in the same way that its
famous sibling intends to do.
Work on the so-called EU data protection reform package, comprised of the
Regulation and t he Directive, begun as early as 2009 w ith the release of a public
consultation by the Commission that led to the rst Commission position paper b eing
published in 2010 (“A comprehensive approach on personal data protection in the
European Union”, COM(2010) 609 nal). Subsequently the Commission released its
rst dra s on t he Regulation and the Directive in ea rly 2012. Over the following years
the text was process ed by the Council and the Parli ament. e Parliament was t he rst
to reach a nal position, as early as 2 013. e Council, perhaps u nburdened by
considerations on forthcoming elect ions, took its time and was able to reach a nal
position in 2015. e trilogue that followed was relatively brief and the nal compromise
text of the Directive wa s made known on 15 December 2015, as approved by the
Parliament. At the ti me that this article was d ra ed the Directive has not yet forma lly
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