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European Union: CJEU Strikes Down CSAR and Interoperability Regulations in Two Landmark Decisions journal article

Teresa Quintel

European Data Protection Law Review, Volume 9 (2023), Issue 4, Page 418 - 429

This contribution sets out a fictitious scenario in which the Court of Justice of the European Union hands down two important judgments regarding legislative measures in the year 2033. Those legislative measures chosen for the scenario are on the one hand, an imagined Regulation on preventing and combatting child sexual abuse online and, on the other, two Regulations establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems. The imaginary judgments, as put in the contribution, should be seen as landmark decisions as the Court scrutinised the existence of a continuous necessity of the laws in question in light of the relevant changes that took place since their adoption. In addition, the Court’s reasoning to declare void the above legislative measures, in both judgments, relied on the same proportionality assessment formula that already served as reference for similar decisions in the recent past. This contribution will briefly highlight the relevant aspects of the laws that were struck down by the Court, summarise the main developments that had an impact on the matters regulated by those laws and reiterate the main arguments found by the Court. The conclusion emphasises the importance of balancing different fundamental rights and interests in order to achieve an equilibrium between privacy and security. Keywords: GDPR, e-Privacy Regulation, Regulation on preventing and combatting child sexual abuse online, interoperability of EU databases








Interoperability of EU Databases and Access to Personal Data by National Police Authorities under Article 20 of the Commission Proposals journal article

Teresa Quintel

European Data Protection Law Review, Volume 4 (2018), Issue 4, Page 470 - 482

This contribution assesses data protection concerns relating to the processing of personal data carried out pursuant to Article 20 of the interoperability proposals, which were published by the European Commission on 12 December 2017. The proposals seek to enable all centralised EU databases for security, border and migration management to be interconnected by 2023. Under Article 20 of the proposals, Member States would be permitted to implement national provisions that allow national police authorities to query one of the interoperability components with biometric taken during an identity check. Such queries shall prevent irregular migration and ensure a high level of security within Union. In particular, this article seeks to examine the data protection concerns arising with regard to streamlined law enforcement access to non-law enforcement databases included in the interoperable framework, and addresses risks for individuals to become subject to unfair processing under Article 20 of the interoperability proposal. Keywords: Interoperability, EU Databases, Biometric Data, Random Police Checks, Directive (EU)2016/680, GDPR, Irregular Migration