DATA RETENTION: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ENDORSES 6-24 MONTH DEAL.

The following are the key elements of the compromise:

* Period: 6-24 months for telephone, e-mail and Internet data.

* Purpose: To investigate, detect and prosecute - but not prevent as originally proposed - serious crime as defined by each member state. Member states "shall have due regard" to the 32 serious crimes listed in the EU Arrest Warrant Framework Decision (2002/534/JHA). Only traffic and location data can be retained, i.e. who phoned who, when and from where, not the content of communications.

* Unsuccessful calls: Data on calls where a connection is made but the call is unanswered only has to be retained if the company already stores such data.

* Reimbursement of costs: To be regulated at national level, i.e. no mandatory reimbursement like the Commission wanted.

* Push system: Data shall be transmitted by providers to authorities upon request.

* Sanctions: Unauthorised access or transfer of data to be punished by "effective, proportionate or dissuasive" penalties, either administrative or criminal.

* Implementation deadline: 18 months for telephony, 36 months for Internet data.

* Review: Three years after implementation, covering list of data to be retained and retention periods. It will be up to the Commission to decide whether to propose amending the Directive.

U-turn.

As recently as September 27, MEPs rejected a similar proposal from the Council, although that was mainly because they had been sidelined by the legislative procedure (consultation, not co-decision). But intensive lobbying from, and negotiating with, the United Kingdom EU Presidency resulted in a compromise being forged with the two largest political groups, the EPP-ED and Socialists. The compromise was approved by 378 votes to 197 with 30 abstentions. The German Liberal MEP Alexander Alvaro, who was Parliament's rapporteur on the proposal, took his name off the report in protest. Mr Alvaro's initial recommendation, approved by Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee on November 24 by 33 votes to 8, was 6-12 months retention and mandatory reimbursement of costs for industry.

In essence, Parliament has agreed to longer retention periods and no mandatory reimbursement of costs, in return for tightening up data protection provisions. The Greens and left-wing GUE-NGL group and some Liberal MEPs voted against the deal. They are furious with what they see as their colleagues' betrayal of Parliament's previous opposition to data retention but they lacked the numbers to...

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