EU Privacy Watchdog Slaps EU Border Agency for Unlawful Data-Sharing
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) violated EU law when it transmitted the personal data of suspects of cross-border crimes to Europol, the EU's law enforcement cooperation agency, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), announced Wednesday. The EDPS is responsible for monitoring personal data processing by EU institutions and bodies. In October 2022, it audited Frontex's activities when assisting EU countries at external borders in joint operations.
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The audit discovered that Frontex was collecting information on suspects of cross-border crime based on debriefing interviews with people caught crossing external borders, and was sharing the data with Europol without assessing whether such sharing was necessary. "Considering the high risks that this implies for individuals reported as suspects, should that information provide unreliable or inaccurate, the EDPS decided to open an investigation."
Despite the "severe breach," however, the EDPS decided to issue a reprimand only, since shortly after the audit report emerged, Frontex stopped sharing personal information and started working with Europol to define criteria for assessing whether the information collected is strictly necessary.