2016

"On July 8, 2016, EU representatives on the Article 31 Committee approved the final version of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield to permit transatlantic transfers of personal data from the EU to the U.S. The Privacy Shield is a successor framework to the Safe Harbor, which was invalidated by the Court of Justice of the European Union in October 2015. The Article 31 Committee 's approval comes after many months of criticism from various EU bodies of the European Commission 's initial February proposal, including the European Parliament, the Article 29 Working Party and the European Data Protection Supervisor. Andrus Ansip, Vice President for the Digital Single Market on the European Commission, and Vera Jourov�, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, said in a joint statement that ""the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield will ensure a high level of protection for individuals and legal certainty for business. It is fundamentally different from the old Safe Harbour."""

On July 19, 2016, Advocate General Saugmandsgaard Oe, published his Opinion on two joined cases relating to data retention requirements in the EU, C-203|15 and C-698|15. These cases were brought following the Court of Justice for the European Union 's (CJEU 's) decision in the Digital Rights Ireland case, which invalidated Directive 2006|24|EC on data retention. The two cases, referred from courts in Sweden and the UK respectively, sought to establish whether a general obligation to retain data is compatible with the fundamental rights to privacy and data protection under EU law. In his Opinion, the Advocate General stresses the need to find a balance between a nation 's need to effectively fight serious crime, such as terrorism, against individuals ' fundamental rights. The Advocate General found that a general obligation to retain data may be compatible with EU law, although any action from an EU Member State against the possibility of imposing such an obligation is subject to strict requirements. The national courts are responsible for determining whether or not such requirements are satisfied.

"Civil Liberties Committee Ministers of European Parliament (MEP) called for the addition of non-European Union (EU) nationals to the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) that EU countries use to exchange information on the criminal convictions of EU citizens.

The committee supported the proposal by a vote of 45-2, with four abstentions. The new directive is a key measure under the European Agenda on Security and an important tool for fighting cross-border crime and terrorism. ""We need to restore public confidence that we are able to monitor who comes into the EU, and to find people who could represent a threat,"" Timothy Kirkhope, minister of parliament in the EU, said. ""Checking people against our existing criminal records databases, and making exchanging that information much easier, will go a long way towards showing that we can find those people who mean us harm, amongst the vast majority who do not."""