Data protection in Community institutions and bodies

The committee adopted a report by Ornella PACIOTTI (PES, I) under the codecision procedure (first reading) amending the proposal for a regulation on the protection of personal data processed by the EU institutions and on the creation of a European data supervisory authority to ensure the correct handling of such data. Since Ms Paciotti had reached agreement with the Council on the amendments to the proposal, it would be possible for Parliament to approve it at a single reading. As the creation of a European data supervisory authority had originally been scheduled for 1 January 1999, the committee felt that rapid approval of the regulation was of the essence. Ms Paciotti submitted 63 amendments to the regulation as drafted by the Commission, the majority of which were in line with a text drawn up by the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER). The few amendments which went further than the COREPER text were negotiated with the French presidency. They included two amendments on the procedure to be followed when activities fell under the second or third pillars. In principle, the regulation only applied to activities under the first pillar. Thus the committee inserted a reference to Article 6 of the EU Treaty (fundamental rights) and Article 255 of the EC Treaty (public access to documents) in order to provide for a legal basis in cases concerning the second or third pillars.�