21 April 2021

EU legislation on e-evidence – what is inside the (Pandora’s) box?

This is the fourth webinar in the new Enforcing Europe - Webinar Series 1.

The Webinar Series is co-organised with the University of Luxembourg within the framework of the joint research project MATIS (co-funded by FWO and FNR).

The Webinar Series is in media partnership with Privacy Laws & Business.

Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union enumerates the values the European house is founded upon. Some of those values, like democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights are reflected in principles such as the equality of Union citizens, the Union citizenship, or the binding effect of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. These principles and rights are then further developed in Union's secondary law, such as the General Data Protection Regulation.

However, without proper enforcement, EU law risks becoming a dead letter. When the foundations are weakened, the entire building becomes shaky. This webinar series will, therefore, be interested in how does (or does not) the EU protect its foundations and make sure that the values, principles, and rules of primary law are respected and enforced in the secondary law and in the Member States.

In the fourth webinar, we will have a closer look at the EU upcoming legislation on access to electronic evidence. The idea behind this legislative reform is to enable the law enforcement authorities to compel online service providers into surrendering personal data of their costumers, even if the service providers are based outside of their jurisdiction. The law enforcement reach to service providers will therefore become direct, without the traditional channels of law enforcement cooperation such as the mutual legal assistance or mutual recognition. Is this a necessity in the digital era, or a game-changer with unforeseen consequences for the basic principles of both criminal procedural law and data protection law?

The legislation is currently in trilogues. What are the main issues on the table? Where are the big differences between the Parliament’s and the Council’s position? What could be the possible compromises, and how will they shift the paradigm as we know it? What about the other pieces of the e-evidence puzzle - the reform of the Cybercrime Convention, US Cloud Act and the potential EU-US agreement?

Moderator:

• Juraj Sajfert (VUB/University of Luxembourg) 

Speakers:  

• Anže Erbežnik (European Parliament, LIBE committee secretariat)
• Marco Stefan (Centre for European Policy Studies)
• Luc De Houwer (Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office)

• Elisa Sason (Dutch Permanent Representation to the EU)

Time: 12:30 - 14:00 (Brussels time)

Venue: online. The platform, together with the link to attend the event, will be communicated to the registered participants in due course.

Registration: The event is free to attend but registration is required. Should you face any difficulties with the registration form, please send an e-mail to info@brusselsprivacyhub.eu

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