Government supplements Law No. 535/2004 on prevention and combating of terrorism

  The Government approved the introduction of additional guarantees so that the exchange of information carried out for the purpose of preventing and combating terrorism is carried out in full compliance with the right to the protection of personal data, through a draft law supplementing Law No. 535/2004 on the prevention and combating of terrorism.According to a press release from the Executive, information regarding criminal investigations into terrorist crimes that affect or may affect two or more Member States of the European Union is transmitted to Europol, in accordance with national and European legislation on the matter."The relevant information that could be transmitted to Europol, regarding terrorist crimes, concerns data that allow the identification of the person, group or entity, the acts that are the subject of the investigation and their specific circumstances, the qualification of the crime under investigation, links with other related cases, the use of communication technologies, the threat represented by the possession of weapons of mass destruction. Personal data are processed exclusively for the purpose of preventing, investigating, detecting or prosecuting terrorist crimes and other crimes within the competence of Europol, in accordance with the principle of purpose limitation," the press release reads.At the same time, the categories of personal data, including associated administrative data (e.g. personal details, physical description, means of identification, occupation and skills, etc.), which may be the subject of information exchange, are more precisely defined, taking into account the operational needs of the competent authorities.The draft law transposes into national legislation Article 1 point 2 of Directive (EU) 2023/2123 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 October 2023 amending Council Decision 2005/671/JHA as regards its alignment with Union rules on the protection of personal data, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series of 11 October 2023.The draft law approved by the Government will be submitted to Parliament for debate and approval.