Police, privacy and data protection from a comparative legal perspective

Abstract

Concerns about terrorism and organized crime have had an adverse effect on the protection of privacy rights. Police processing of personal data is seen as a complex and strongly developing area of law. At the level of the European Union, protection of personal privacy has been consolidated, impacting on national government institutions and law enforcement organizations. The leading argument is that harmonized data protection rules offer legal certainty and allow a smoother exchange of personal data, allowing police forces to deliver privacy and security to citizens. EU data protection rules for police and criminal justice authorities are analysed, including former data exchange instruments (such as the Prum Treaties and the Swedish Initiative), and the recent 2016 EU Police and Criminal Justice Authorities Directive, the latter being regarded as a major step forward for the EU data protection regime. Furthermore EU agencies are discussed that process data in the area of law enforcement, namely Europol, Eurojust and the European Public Prosecutor's Office