GLOBAL INTERNET LIBERTY
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GILC
May 29, 2002
De : Meryem Marzouki <meryem.marzouki@dial.oleane.com>
Date : Mer 29 mai 2002 12:55:15 Europe/Paris
À : EPaciotti@europarl.eu.int
Objet : Rép : Cappato report
Dear Ms. Paciotti,
I would like to thank you for your mail sent in response to the NGO open letter. I fully endorse the response sent to you by my colleagues Cédric Laurant (Electronic Privacy Information Center), Sjoera Nas (XS4ALL Internet) and Maurice Wessling (Bits of Freedom). However, I would like to add a comment regarding the French situation, providing you with an example which can explain why, in practice, the Cappato report on Article 15(1) should be supported by your Assembly.
As IRIS president, I've filed on december 21st a complaint with the European Commission against France regarding Article 29 of French law N°2001-1062 of November 15th, 2001. This law is known as "loi relative à la sécurité quotidienne" and its Article 29 is about data retention. The complaint has been received by the EC on January 15th, 2002. It is currently being examined by the EC. From IRIS point of view, this law is violating current EU legislation, since it results in generic data retention for a period of up to one year. Moreover, the actual length of this period of time, as well as the exact type of data to be retained, should be specified by a decree. This decree has not yet been published, but the scope of this law has already been extended by an other law passed on December 2001 to allow exploitation of the retained data for other purposes by administrative services. Attached you will find the text (in French) of IRIS complaint.
Article 29 of French law N°2001-1062 of November 15th, 2001 would become compatible with the EU legislation in case your amendment is adopted by the EP. On the contrary, it would remain a violation of the EU legislation if the Cappato's report provision on Article 15(1) is adopted.
Finally, I would like to remind you that France has recently experienced a real threat for democracy after the 1st round of our presidential elections on last April 21st. Taking into account this threat, which is growing all over Europe, it is absolutely necessary that the EU legislation offers the most serious guarantees for fundamental rights.
I'm sure you will understand our concerns, and will support Cappato's report on Article 15(1).
Best regards,
Meryem Marzouki (IRIS - Imaginons un réseau Internet solidaire).