The European Parliament should withhold its consent to an EU-US trade deal unless it fully respects EU citizens’ data privacy, says an inquiry report.
The report on US National Security Agency (NSA) and EU member state surveillance of EU citizens was approved by the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament. It added that data protection rules should be excluded from the trade talks and negotiated separately with the US.
The text, passed by 33 votes to seven with 17 abstentions, condemns the “vast, systemic, blanket collection of personal data of innocent people, often comprising intimate personal information”, adding that “the fight against terrorism can never be a justification for untargeted, secret or even illegal mass surveillance programmes”.
“We now have a comprehensive text that for the first time brings together in-depth recommendations on Edward Snowden’s allegations of NSA spying and an action plan for the future.
“The Civil Liberties Committee inquiry came at a crucial time, along with Snowden´s allegations and the EU data protection regulation. I hope that this document will be supported by the full Parliament and that it will last beyond the next European Parliament’s mandate,” said rapporteur Claude Moraes after the vote.
The European Parliament said its consent to the final Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal with the US “could be endangered as long as blanket mass surveillance activities and the interception of communications in EU institutions and diplomatic representations are not fully stopped and an adequate solution for data privacy rights of EU citizens, including administrative and judicial redress is not found”, MEPs said.
Parliament should therefore withhold its consent to the TTIP agreement unless it fully respects fundamental rights enshrined in the EU Charter, the text added, stressing that data protection should be taken out of the trade talks.
MEPs called for the “immediate suspension” of the Safe Harbour privacy principles (voluntary data protection standards for non-EU companies transferring EU citizens’ personal data to the US).
These principles “do not provide adequate protection for EU citizens” said MEPs, who urge the US to propose new personal data transfer rules that meet EU data protection requirements.
The EU needs a “digital new deal”, to be delivered by the joint efforts of EU institutions, member states, research institutions, industry and civil society, say MEPs, noting that some telecoms firms have clearly neglected the IT security of their users and clients.
MEPs also urged member states to accelerate their work on EU data protection legislation so that it can be passed by the end of this year.
Trust in US cloud computing and cloud providers has been damaged by surveillance practices, MEPs noted. They propose that Europe should develop its own clouds and IT solutions to ensure a high standard of personal data protection.
The European Parliament will vote on the resolution on March 12 in Strasbourg.