PURPOSE: to entitle Malta, Cyprus and Estonia to
continue to receive and supply personal data for the purpose of
automated searching of vehicle registration data (VRD).
PROPOSED ACT: Council Implementing
Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council adopts
the act after consulting the European Parliament but without being
obliged to follow its opinion.
BACKGROUND: Council
Decision 2008/615/JHA on the stepping up of cross-border
cooperation, particularly in combating terrorism and
cross-border crime, confers upon the Council implementing
powers with a view to adopting measures necessary to implement that
Decision, in particular as regards the receipt and supply of
personal data provided for under that Decision.
The supply of personal data provided for under that
Decision may not take place until the general provisions on data
protection have been implemented in the national law of the
territories of the Member States involved in such
supply.
Council
Decision 2008/616/JHA provides that the verification that the
condition with respect to automated data exchange has been met is
to be done on the basis of an evaluation report based on: (i) a
questionnaire; (ii) an evaluation visit and a pilot run.
The overall evaluation reports, summarising the
results of the questionnaire, the evaluation visit and the pilot
run concerning vehicle registration data in Malta, Cyprus and
Estonia, have been presented to the Council.
On the basis of these evaluation reports, Decisions
2014/731/EU, 2014/743/EU and 2014/744/EU authorised Malta, Cyprus
and Estonia to receive and supply personal data for the purposes of
the automated searching of vehicle registration data.
This Decision replaces Decisions 2014/731/EU,
2014/743/EU and 2014/744/EU which were annulled by the Court of
Justice of the European Union by its judgement of 22 September
2016. In that judgement, the Court maintained the effects of
Decisions 2014/731/EU, 2014/743/EU and 2014/744/EU until the entry
into force of new acts intended to replace them. With a view to
ensuring the legal certainty of the receipt and supply of personal
data with regard to the Member States concerned, those Decisions
should be replaced by this Decision.
CONTENT: the proposed Council implementing Decision
seeks, for the purpose of automated searching of vehicle
registration data (VRD), to authorise Malta, Cyprus and Estonia
to continue to be entitled to receive and supply personal data
pursuant to Decision 2008/615/JHA.
Decisions 2014/731/EU, 2014/743/EU and 2014/744/EU
cease to produce effects as from the date of entry into force of
this Decision, without prejudice to the validity of automated data
exchange carried out pursuant to those Decisions by the Member
States.
Member States which obtained personal data pursuant to
these Decisions shall continue to be entitled to further process
those data at national level or between Member States for the
purposes laid down in Decision 2008/615/JHA.
The United Kingdom and Ireland shall participate in
the adoption of the proposed Decision.