The European Commission decided to refer Greece and Spain to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to transpose the EU rules on personal data protection (the Data Protection Law Enforcement Directive, Directive (EU) 2016/680).
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In April 2016, the Council and the European Parliament agreed the Directive had to be transposed into national law by 6 May 2018.
In the case of Greece, the Commission is calling on the Court of Justice of the EU to impose financial sanctions in the form of a lump sum of € 5 287.50per day between the day after the deadline for transposition set out by the Directive expired and either compliance by Greece or the date of delivery of the judgment under Article 260(3) TFEU,with a minimum lump sum of € 1 310 000and a daily penalty payment of € 22.169,70from the day of the first judgment until full compliance is reached or until the second Court judgment.
As regards Spain, the Commission is calling on the Court to impose a financial sanction in the form of a lump sum of € 21 321per day between the day after the deadline for transposition set out by the Directive expired and either compliance by Spain or the date of delivery of the judgment under article 260(3) of TFEU, with a minimum lump sum of € 5 290 000and a daily penalty payment of € 89 548.20 from the day of the first judgement until full compliance is reached or until the second Court judgment.
The protection of personal data is a fundamental right enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.
The aim of the Directive is ensure a high level of protection of personal data while facilitating exchanges of personal data between national law enforcement authorities.
The Directive lays down rules on the processing of personal data by competent law enforcement authorities for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties.
The Directive also ensures that the data of victims, witnesses, and suspects and perpetrators of crimes are duly protected in the context of a criminal investigation.
At the same time, better harmonised laws also facilitate cross-border cooperation of police, prosecutors and judges to combat crime and terrorism more effectively across Europe.
These EU rules contribute to the accomplishment of an area of freedom, security and justice.
The lack of transposition by Spain and Greece creates a different level of protection of peoples' rights and freedoms and hampers data exchanges between Greece and Spain on one side and other Member States who transposed the Directive on the other side.
Therefore, the Commission opened the infringement proceedings by sending a letter of formal notice to national authorities of the Member States concerned in July 2018 and the respective reasoned opinions in January 2019.
To date, Greece and Spain have not notified the Commission on the adoption of the national measures necessary in order to transpose the Directive. ■