Type: Acts of the European Union: European Parliament Resolution on the US NSA surveillance programme, surveillance bodies in various Member States and their impact on EU citizens’ fundamental rights and on transatlantic cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs

Authority: European Authorities - European Union: European Parliament

Date: 03/12/2014

Subject: The European Parliament considers that recent revelations in the press by whistleblowers and journalists, together with the expert evidence given during this inquiry, admissions by authorities, and the insufficient response to these allegations, have resulted in compelling evidence of the existence of far-reaching, complex and highly technologically advanced systems designed by US and some Member States' intelligence services to collect, store and analyse communication data, including content data, location data and metadata of all citizens around the world, on an unprecedented scale and in an indiscriminate and non-suspicion-based manner; it recalls the EU's firm belief in the need to strike the right balance between security measures and the protection of civil liberties and fundamental rights, while ensuring the utmost respect for privacy and data protection; the European Parliament considers that data collection of such magnitude leaves considerable doubts as to whether these actions are guided only by the fight against terrorism, since it involves the collection of all possible data of all citizens; points, therefore, to the possible existence of other purposes including political and economic espionage, which need to be comprehensively dispelled; it notes that international treaties and EU and US legislation, as well as national oversight mechanisms, have failed to provide for the necessary checks and balances or for democratic accountability; it condemns the vast and systemic blanket collection of the personal data of innocent people, often including intimate personal information; it emphasises that the systems of indiscriminate mass surveillance by intelligence services constitute a serious interference with the fundamental rights of citizens; it strongly rejects the notion that all issues related to mass surveillance programmes are purely a matter of national security and therefore the sole competence of Member States; it reiterates that Member States must fully respect EU law and the ECHR while acting to ensure their national security; finally it calls on the US authorities and the EU Member States, where this is not yet the case, to prohibit blanket mass surveillance activities.

Classification: Dignity - Art. 1 Human dignity - Art. 3 Physical and mental integrity - Freedoms - Art. 6 Personal liberty - Personal security - Art. 7 Privacy - Art. 8 Personal data: fairly processing - Personal data: consent - Personal data: access - Personal data: rectification - Personal data: independent authority - Art. 10 Freedom of thought - Art. 11 Freedom of expression - Equality - Art. 21 Non discrimination - Citizens’ rights - Art. 42 Right to access documents of EU institutions - Justice - Art. 47 Justice: remedy - Justice: effective - Art. 48 Rights of defence - Art. 49 Proportionality of penalties - General provisions - Art. 52 Necessary limitations

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