CONCERNS OVER NEW EU EVIDENCE GATHERING PROPOSALS

For Immediate Release
 

New EU proposals would allow European countries to order British police to gather and share sensitive personal information, including recordings of bugged conversations, banking records and DNA. The “European Investigation Order” contains limited grounds for refusal, meaning that British police would be powerless to refuse an order, even if related to activity that is not a crime in the UK. The Government has until 28 July to decide whether to opt in to the proposals but may make an announcement sooner.

Jago Russell, Chief Executive of Fair Trials International, said:

“The UK government has rightly said it will support new EU justice laws if they make us safer and respect our civil liberties. The problem is, these proposals do neither. Police time could be wasted dealing with unreasonable demands for evidence and the cost to our privacy could be enormous. The proposals are also completely one-sided. If you are under suspicion you will have no right to demand information from overseas police to prove your innocence.”

While FTI welcomes measures that enable European countries to cooperate more effectively in combating serious cross-border crime, this must not be done at the expense of fundamental rights. We are concerned that these new powers could result in huge amounts of police time being wasted dealing with unreasonable demands for evidence issued by prosecutors across the EU. This has been a problem with the European Arrest Warrant, with police officers in the UK complaining about the burden of having to deal with a deluge of extradition requests for minor offences.

For more information please contact Fair Trials International on +44 (0)20 7822 2370 or +44 (0)7950 849 851

Notes to Editors

1. The initiating Member States
   The draft Directive was proposed by 8 EU Member States on 29 April 2010. The initiating Member States were Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Spain, Luxembourg, Austria, Slovenia and Sweden. The draft Directive was a Member States’ initiative, governed by Article 76(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which allows legislation to be proposed not only by the Commission but also by a quarter of the 27 Member States.
    
2. Opting in or out
   The UK has been given little time to decide whether to opt in or not. It is not an easy decision. By opting in, the UK can try to influence the text of the legislation but cannot then refuse to enact the measure once it has been voted in by Member States and the European Parliament. If it opts out, it will be working to a different system of evidence-gathering than the rest of the EU, risking its own requests being sidelined. (Ireland and Denmark also have opt-out arrangements.)
    
3. Fundamental rights and evidence gathering:
   Several fundamental rights are engaged by pre-trial evidence-gathering procedures, including the right to a fair trial under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), privacy rights under Article 8 ECHR and, in some cases, rights under Article 3 ECHR.
    
4. Submission to the Home Office
   Please find below the full text of our submission to the Home Office detailing our concerns on the new proposals.