Enfopol resolution hits fresh trouble

The European Parliament (EP) has suffered fresh criticism over its handling of the Enfopol 98 resolution, which was passed last week.

The resolution, although not legally binding, allows individual member states to award law enforcement agencies wide powers to listen in on voice and data communications.

The resolution followed a report by MEP, Gerhard Schmid, a member of the EP Civil Liberties Committee. However, Joe McNamee, deputy head of Secretariat for the European Internet Service Providers Association (EuroISPA) said Schmid had failed to present the full facts to the Committee.

McNamee said: "The lead MEP on the issue, Mr Schmid, frequently wasn't in the Civil Liberties Committee to have a debate, so [the debate] was quite limited. And he assured MEPs in the Committee and in Parliament that there are no real costs for ISPs - he didn't ask us."

McNamee added that the two other EP committees that were meant to advise on the report were not given a fair hearing. "The Legal Affairs Committee adopted a damming stance on the report, saying it tips the balance of justice and privacy. And the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee asked to attend but wasn't allowed," he said.

In its rejection of the report, the Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizens' Rights argues that because the term 'telecommunications' now includes new communications technologies, it would also include all ecommerce transactions - an area that if monitored without consumers' knowledge, would seriously infringe civil liberties. It also claims: "The proposal passes over in silence the cost to the operators."

The practical implications of the resolution would see ISPs and telcos footing the bill, which experts have predicted will run into millions of pounds. McNamee explained: "Taken to its extreme, Enfopol requires full-time, real-time access to anybody's communications. A major ISP would be able to absorb the costs, but a small ISP having to make the infrastructure changes would not. It would be the small ISPs that would bear the brunt."

McNamee called on MEPs to push for a new resolution to be tabled when the next Parliament is elected, with civil liberties groups and the ISP community being fully consulted. Meanwhile, the Committee for Legal Affairs recommended that the proposal should be rewritten after the Treaty of Amsterdam has come into force.