Letter save-am138-mister-minister

[Monsieur le ministre,]

On Novembre 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, [...]

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[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.