The Council adopted the following conclusions on the protection of personal data relating to police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
In particular, it:
- recognizes the importance of the existence of a comprehensive and coherent set of rules at the level of the European Union concerning the high level of protection of personal data processed in the framework of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, as a part of the Union’s ever increasing set of regulatory instruments on such cooperation. These rules will build upon the minimum data protection principles set by the Convention of 28 January 1981 for the protection of individuals with regard to automatic processing of personal data and its Additional Protocol of 8 November 2001, and take account of Recommendation (87)15 regulating the use of personal data in the police sector, both adopted in the framework of the Council of Europe;
- notes that the European Parliament has rapidly forwarded its opinion on the revised draft of the Council Framework Decision on the protection of personal data processed in the framework of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters and will examine all solutions suggested by the European Parliament, in the spirit of cooperation that is reflected in the opinion;
- will examine all solutions suggested by the European Parliament, in the spirit of cooperation that is reflected in its opinion of 24 May 2007. It will take note of the general principles in the annex to the opinion. The Council will take these principles, where appropriate, into consideration, when drafting the Council Framework Decision on the protection of personal data processed in the framework of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters;
- continues to give priority to the examination of the proposal for a Council Framework Decision and intends to reach a political agreement on the proposal as soon as possible and at the latest by the end of 2007.