NEW PROPOSAL ON TELEPHONE DATA RETENTION MORE INDUSTRY-FRIENDLY.

• Position: European Union passes telecommunication policy - Brief Article

The war on terror is hardly a friendly matter but the latest addition to the EU's growing arsenal of anti-terrorism measures - the European Commission's September 21 proposal on telephone data retention for the police - is at least a bit more friendly towards the telecoms industry than the Council of Ministers' rival draft Framework Decision. Seen as a priority in the anti-terrorist agenda, the question of harmonising data retention rules has been under discussion by EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in the looser context of cooperation on criminal law for over a year now. But the Commission, backed by the European Parliament, felt that it alone should make the proposal given the impact that the text would have on industry. So the telecoms industry is now being offered a more harmonised regime.

The British Presidency finally agreed at the beginning of the month to study the Commission's proposal, which it is hoped will be jointly adopted by the Parliament and member states before the end of the year. The Commission has kept the general idea of reinforcing police cooperation by requiring telecoms companies to keep certain communication data (such as caller, receiver, time, date, place and duration) for the same length of time throughout the EU. This applies to fixed line, mobile telephone calls and SMS...