The very least that one can say or write about the cooperation in criminal matters between the EU and the US is that it has intensified since 2001. The EU and its bodies that deal with criminal matters – Eurojust and Europol – have concluded agreements with US authorities. However, the data protection provisions in several of these agreements have raised eyebrows. The exchange of personal data is a crucial tool in judicial and law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters. The EU as an entity, but also Eurojust and Europol, entered into negotiations with the US in order to regulate… Read more

Introduction The Lisbon Treaty aims at further developing an area of freedom, security and justice without internal frontiers, and the prevention and combating of crime is seen as one of the premises in order to strengthen the creation of such an area (Article 3 TEU). Member States are faced with crises of criminality in the era of globalisation: following economic and social trends, crime tends to assume a transnational dimension and a complex structure, and individual States cannot manage to deal with this phenomenon. Moreover, freedom of circulation within the EU can lead to further difficulties in fighting criminality. This… Read more

Before the entry into force of the Treaty on European Union of 1991, the cooperation in matters of internal security took place at the level of international relations between particular Member States − in the legal sense, outside the European Communities.1 The Treaty on European Union formed the architecture of European integration by attaching different forms of intergovernmental cooperation to Community policies. In this way, the three-pillar system was established. The cooperation between the EU Member States was described as “the cooperation in the fields of justice and home affairs.” This area includes police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters… Read more

Introduction In the world of information and communication technologies (ICTs), the phenomenon of cloud computing is almost inescapable these days,1 and it seems to indicate the direction in which information infrastructures are moving. The concept, relatively simple, implies the migration of computing hardware, software infrastructures, and applications to third-party service providers’ data centres which, to end users, appear to exist somewhere “in the clouds” of cyberspace. Cloud computing is therefore a new way of delivering computing resources and services, a new segment of the overall ICT portfolio, rather than a new technology per se.2 The advantages of such a business… Read more

Over the last decade, the United States and the European Union have become increasingly important partners in combating terrorism and have further developed intertwined security interests. The signing of the so-called SWIFT II agreement1 on 28 June 2010 (approved by the European Parliament on 8 July 2010) raises, once again, issues concerning the potential conflict between data protection and security matters in the context of transatlantic cooperation.2 The aim of this instrument is “to make sure that designated providers of international financial payment messaging services (and primarily the company “Swift”) make available to the United States Department of the Treasury… Read more