HOUSE OF LORDS European Union Committee 5th Report of Session 2004-05 After Madrid: the EU’s response to terrorism Report with Evidence Ordered to be printed 22 February and published 8 March 2005 Published by the Authority of the House of Lords London : The Stationery Office Limited £22.00 HL Paper 53 The European Union Committee The European Union Committee is appointed by the House of Lords “to consider European Union documents and other matters relating to the European Union”. The Committee has seven Sub-Committees which are: Economic and Financial Affairs, and International Trade (Sub-Committee A) Internal Market (Sub-Committee B) Foreign Affairs, Defence and Development Policy (Sub-Committee C) Agriculture and Environment (Sub-Committee D) Law and Institutions (Sub-Committee E) Home Affairs (Sub-Committee F) Social and Consumer Affairs (Sub-Committee G) Our Membership The Members of the European Union Committee are: Lord Blackwell Lord Neill of Bladen Lord Bowness Lord Radice Lord Dubs Lord Renton of Mount Harry Lord Geddes Lord Scott of Foscote Lord Grenfell (Chairman) Lord Shutt of Greetland Lord Hannay of Chiswick Baroness Thomas of Walliswood Lord Harrison Lord Tomlinson Baroness Maddock Lord Woolmer of Leeds Lord Marlesford Lord Wright of Richmond Information about the Committee The reports and evidence of the Committee are published by and available from The Stationery Office. 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The Committee’s email address is [email protected] CONTENTS Paragraph Page Abstract 6 Chapter 1: Introduction 1 7 Chapter 2: Background 5 9 The terrorist threat 5 9 Proposals on data exchange 9 10 Declaration on Combating Terrorism 9 10 Commission proposals 10 10 Draft Framework Decision 11 10 The Hague Programme 12 11 Commission Communication on police and customs co-operation 13 11 Proposals for organisational changes 14 11 Chapter 3: Information Exchange 15 12 Information and intelligence 15 12 Exchanging information 17 12 United Kingdom arrangements 20 13 Assessment of proposals 21 13 Building trust between agencies 24 15 Databases 26 15 “Interoperability” 28 16 An EU criminal intelligence policy? 29 16 Draft framework decision on the retention of communications data 32 17 Chapter 4: Data Protection 36 17 The Data Protection Directive 36 19 Data protection in the Third Pillar 38 19 A Third Pillar framework 40 20 Supervision of Third Pillar data protection arrangements 43 21 National supervisory authorities 45 22 Chapter 5: EU Institutional Structures 49 24 International co-operation 49 24 Third Pillar structures 50 24 Second Pillar structures 51 24 First Pillar 52 25 Informal groupings 53 25 Overall co-ordination 54 25 Assessment 61 27 Europol 63 28 Smaller groupings of Member States 65 28 Chapter 6: The global perspective 67 30 The international dimension 67 30 Interpol 68 30 Database on lost and stolen passports 71 31 Council Common Position on the transfer of data on lost and stolen passports to the Interpol database 72 32 Recording passport numbers on UK landing cards 73 32 Conclusion 74 32 Transfer of data to third countries 76 33 Chapter 7: Terrorist financing 79 35 Communication on terrorist financing 79 35 Chapter 8: Conclusions and Recommendations 89 38 Exceptional measures 89 38 “Radicalisation” 90 38 The United Kingdom’s contribution 91 38 Summary of recommendations 92 39 Recommendation to the House 120 42 Appendix 1: Sub-Committee F (Home Affairs) 43 Appendix 2: Call for Evidence 44 Appendix 3: List of Witnesses 46 Appendix 4: Glossary of Acronyms 47 Appendix 5: Meeting with Representatives of the Joint Supervisory Authorities responsible for data protection in the Third Pillar—Brussels, 3 November 2004 48 Appendix 6: Letter dated 21 July 2004 from Lord Grenfell, Chairman of the Select Committee on the European Union to Caroline Flint, MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office 51 Appendix 7: Other recent Reports from the EU Select Committee 52 ORAL EVIDENCE JUSTICE, Dr Eric Metcalfe, Director of Human Rights Policy Written evidence 1 Oral evidence (20 October 2004) 4 Association of Chief Police Officers, Scotland (ACPOS), Chief Constable, Mr Paddy Tomkins Written evidence 13 Oral evidence (27 October 2004) 19 Association of Chief Police OfficersTerrorism and Allied Matters (ACPO–TAM), Assistant Commissioner David Veness1 Written evidence 16 Oral evidence (27 October 2004) 19 1 Now Sir David Veness European Commission, Directorate-General, Justice and Home Affairs, Director- General, Mr Jonathan Faull, and Mr Joaquim Nunes de Almeida Written evidence 32 Oral evidence (3 November 2004) 37 Joint Situation Centre, Council of the European Union, Director, Mr William Shapcott Oral evidence (3 November 2004) 53 EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, Mr Gijs de Vries, and Ms Patricia Holland Oral evidence (3 November 2004) 63 Information Commissioner, Mr Richard Thomas, and Assistant Information Commissioner, Mr David Smith Written evidence 72 Oral evidence (10 November 2004) 74 Professor Paul Wilkinson, Chairman, Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, School of International Relations, University of St Andrews Written evidence 89 Oral evidence (17 November 2004) 92 Statewatch, Chief Editor, Mr Tony Bunyan, and Mr Ben Hayes Written evidence 99 Oral evidence (17 November 2004) 104 Interpol, Secretary General, Mr Ron Noble Written evidence 114 Oral evidence (1 December 2004) 117 Home Office, Hazel Blears, MP, Minister of State Written evidence 128 Oral evidence (8 December 2004) 130 Supplementary written evidence 140 WRITTEN EVIDENCE Eurojust 142 Europol 145 Joint Supervisory Authorities, Europol, Eurojust, Schengen Information System and Customs Information System 147 NCIS (National Criminal Intelligence Service) 149 NCS (National Crime Squad 151 NOTE: Pages of the report are numbered in bold type; pages of evidence are numbered in ordinary type. References in the text of the report are as follows: (Q) refers to a question in oral evidence (p) refers to a page of written evidence ABSTRACT ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ International terrorism is a major scourge of modern society. Action must be mobilised against it at every appropriate level. The EU has a role to play but it must remain a co-ordinating one in support of the Member States, which have the primary responsibility for combating terrorism. Given the range of interests involved, effective co-ordinationand the work of the EU Counter-terrorism Co-ordinator—are crucial. The present proliferation of EU groups and agencies needs to be reduced and streamlined. Terrorism is a global phenomenon and the EU must engage with international agencies, especially Interpol, in combating it. Accurate and timely information and intelligence are crucial to forestalling terrorist attacks and identifying the perpetrators. The EU provides a forum for more extensive exchange of information between Member States and this opportunity must be fully exploited. Such exchange of information must be subject to effective data protection safeguards. A uniform data protection regime for the Third Pillar would not only provide better data protection but would also facilitate the exchange of information. After Madrid: the EU’s response to terrorism CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. The growth of international terrorism has been one of the most malign developments of recent years. It poses a threat not only to the lives and wellbeing of the citizens of countries targeted by the terrorists but alsoas the terrorists no doubt intendto the very foundations of our democratic institutions. Terrorism impacts on everyone’s lives, even if they are not a target or have not experienced a terrorist attack themselves. The increasing security measures that governments have judged it necessary to put in place are a constant reminder of the threat; and the apparent randomness of terrorist attacks and the increasingly prevalent phenomenon of the suicide terrorist inevitably add to the public’s fear and the difficulties of countering it. Against that background it is entirely right that the European Union (EU) should have been examining as a matter of urgency what additional action at EU level is necessary to supplement and, where appropriate, co-ordinate the efforts of the Member States, which retain—and must retain—the primary responsibility for protecting their citizens. 2. Following the Madrid bombings on 11 March 2004 the European Council issued a Declaration on Combating Terrorism,1