Gov't approves draft on information exchange with U.S. Department of Homeland Security

The Government approved on Thursday a draft law aimed at creating, at national level, the necessary mechanisms to exchange information with the Department of Homeland Security of the United States of America, through an IT platform developed and managed by the Ministry of Interior.According to a press release issued by the Executive, the draft law on the amendment and completion of Law No. 158/2019 for the establishment of certain measures to implement the Agreement between the Government of Romania and the Government of the United States of America on enhancing cooperation in preventing and combating serious crime, signed on 5 October 2015 in Washington D.C., as well as for the amendment of certain regulatory acts, was approved."Thus, the aim is to create an automated workflow in terms of collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security, allowing the national point(s) of contact designated by the US side and the Romanian side to automatically search the fingerprint reference data in the national AFIS system through the IT platform, as well as in the similar identification systems of the American side, and the transmission, where appropriate, of personal data and additional information, in case of a match. In this regard, the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police, the General Inspectorate of the Border Police and the General Inspectorate for Immigration are designated national points of contact for conducting automated interrogations for the purpose of preventing, detecting and combating serious crimes in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security," the press release reads.Moreover, the draft law creates the possibility that the mechanism and conditions for the exchange of information for the provision of personal data and other additional information in connection with the reference data may be established by implementing arrangements concluded at the level of the Ministry of Interior and the Romanian Intelligence Service with the national point(s) of contact designated by the US side.Comprehensive provisions on the protection of personal data processing are also included.