JAN 06, 2020 | EUROPEAN UNION
Joint Statement Encouraging EU Legislators to Fight for Fundamental Rights Protections in e-Evidence Legislation
BRUSSELS – 6 January 2020 – Together we represent millions of users, thousands of European and international companies, and more than one million legal practitioners, that soon will be affected by the new “e-Evidence” legislation that will require online service providers to directly respond to cross-border requests by foreign law enforcement agencies.
We therefore urge the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission to strike the right balance between expanding law enforcement’s ability to gather electronic evidence and protecting fundamental rights in the new e-Evidence legislation.
Our members believe strongly that the new necessary investigative powers of law enforcement agencies as foreseen in the e-Evidence proposal must be accompanied by adequate safeguards to protect citizens and companies against overreach and misuse of these new powers. Without meaningful EU-wide safeguards, trust in the EU’s rule of law will decrease, and our members will bear the negative consequences.
We are encouraged by the draft parliamentary report of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee of the European Parliament which was presented by Rapporteur MEP Birgit Sippel in November 2019. The report goes beyond the status quo by significantly strengthening law enforcement’s ability to investigate crime and terrorism while also introducing important checks and balances against an abuse of fundamental rights. These checks and balances are absent from the Council’s General Approach.
We welcome the European Parliament’s efforts to lead the way in preparations for constructive negotiations with the Council and Commission and hope that the EP’s final report will be further improved while also avoiding walking back key fundamental rights protections.
The following associations have signed this letter:
- ACT | The App Association actonline.org
- Ametic ametic.es
- Bitkom bitkom.org
- BSA | The Software Alliance bsa.org
- CCBE - The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe ccbe.eu
- CDT - Center for Democracy & Technology cdt.org
- eco - Association of the Internet Industry eco.de
- EuroISPA euroispa.org
- ISPA Austria (Internet Service Providers Austria) ispa.at
- NLdigital nldigital.nl
- Syntec Numérique syntec-numerique.fr
BSA 소개
소프트웨어 연합(BSA | The Software Alliance, 이하 BSA)(www.bsa.org)은 각국 정부를 대상으로 세계 시장에서 전 세계 소프트웨어 업계를 대변하고 옹호하는 선도적 연합체입니다. 세계의 가장 혁신적 기업들이 회원사로 참여하며 경제에 활기를 불어 넣고 현대의 생활을 향상시키는 소프트웨어 솔루션을 만들어 내고 있습니다.
워싱턴 DC에 본부를 두고, 30개국이 넘는 국가들에서 운영되는 BSA는, 합법적 소프트웨어 사용을 증진시키고 기술 혁신을 촉진하며 디지털 경제의 성장을 추진하는 공공 정책을 지지하는 준법 프로그램들을 선도합니다.