Letter save-am138-mister-minister

[Mr or mrs Ministers of <function>,]

On November 27th, the Council of the European Union will examine the
electronic communication reform project, also known as Telecom
Package, as modified in first reading by the European Parliament last
September 24th.

The matter of the protection of the fundamental rights of european
citizens using internet has become through last months one of the
major stakes of this case.

After long debates in the parliamentary commissions seized, and after
the intervention of the EDPS, the independant european authority in
charge of the protection of personal data, the European Parliament
adopted a series of modifications to the Commission proposition. The
MEPs wanted to guarantee that the current level of protection
of the european citizens will be at least maintained in the future by
the Member States.

But the main safeguard that the Parliament introduced - amendment 138
adopted by 88% of the MEPs - might be suppressed by the
Council next November 27th, following a request from the french
government. The french economic newspaper La Tribune has announced
that french government managed to convince the totality of the other
Members States to refrain from voting or to vote in favor of the
suppression of this amendment.

Nevertheless, as the European Commission underlined in an official
memo, this amendment is "an important reminder of the fundamental
principles of the community juridical order, in particular of the
fundamental rights of the citizens. It leaves to the others Members
States a sufficient margin to achieve a fair balance between various
fundamental rights notably the right to the respect of privacy, the
right to protection of ownership, the right to an effective recourse
and the right to freedom of speech and information".

In its memo, the Comision indicated that it would not ask for its
suppression, to the opposite of what Nicolas Sarkozy had asked to the
Commission President.

The only reason that made France ask for the suppression of this
amendment is that it opposed head-on the french law project "Creation
and internet" that aims at creating a special court for the internet
users whose account has been used to realize copies of music and
movies without authorization. It also meant for France to legalize
afterwards an administrative decision authorizing private companies to
commit police mission on internet, therefore opposing the european
policy on personal data.

Therefore, we ask you to oppose the suppression of amendment 138 to
respect, as does the European Commision, the democratic vote
of the European Parliament that insisted on underlining that
fundamental democratic principles, such as the principle of separation
of powers or the principle of proportionality, also apply on internet,
at a time where the State Member performing the presidency of the
European Union seems to have forgotten it.

[...] everyone might judge of your commitment in the construction of
an Europe protective of the fundamental rights of its citizens and of
the reality of European Democracy.

Hoping that you will be able to act upon this case, [...]

[signature]

[1]Pour mémoire, le projet de loi français « Création et internet » a
pour objectif de transférer à une autorité administrative les pouvoirs
répressifs de l'autorité judiciaire en matière de litiges relatifs au
droit d'auteur. Or l'amendement 138 souligne que les seuls motifs
permettant un tel transfert sont ceux visant à répondre à une menace
pour la sécurité publique, ce qui n'est évidemment pas le cas d'une
atteinte présumée à un droit d'auteur.