Data

Il-protezzjoni tad-data, il-privatezza u t-teknoloġiji ġodda

<p>More of our everyday lives are online &mdash; both at work and home. Meanwhile, terror attacks intensify calls for more surveillance. Concerns grow over the safety of our privacy and personal data.</p>
<p>FRA helps lawmakers and practitioners protect your rights in a connected world.</p>

Highlights

  • Report / Paper / Summary
    4
    December
    2025
    Artificial Intelligence comes with both benefits and risks. Safe AI use that accounts for fundamental rights is thus crucial. While the 2024 EU AI Act was a milestone in this regard, its broad definitions regarding AI systems and high-risk AI could introduce loopholes for fundamental rights compliance. This report offers an empirical basis for much-needed practical guidance on the Act’s implementation. Based on interviews with AI developers, sellers, and users, FRA addresses challenges of its use in critical domains, like asylum, education, and employment. Our findings help guide next steps in realising the AI Act’s potential to ensure responsible innovation.
  • Report / Paper / Summary
    24
    May
    2023
    This report provides a partial update on the findings of the 2017 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) report Surveillance by intelligence services: Fundamental rights safeguards and remedies in the EU. It was prepared at the request of the European Parliament, which asked FRA to update its 2017 findings to support the work of its committee of inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (PEGA).
  • Report / Paper / Summary
    8
    December
    2022
    Artificial intelligence is everywhere and affects everyone – from deciding what content people see on their social media feeds to determining who will receive state benefits. AI technologies are typically based on algorithms that make predictions to support or even fully automate decision-making.
  • Handbook / Guide / Manual
    25
    May
    2018
    The rapid development of information technology has exacerbated the need for robust personal data protection, the right to which is safeguarded by both European Union (EU) and Council of Europe (CoE) instruments. Safeguarding this important right entails new and significant challenges as technological advances expand the frontiers of areas such as surveillance, communication interception and data storage. This handbook is designed to familiarise legal practitioners not specialised in data protection with this emerging area of the law.
    Prodotti
    13
    July
    2017
    In 2006 the EU issued its Data Retention Directive. According to the Directive, EU Member States had to store electronic telecommunications data for at least six months and at most 24 months for investigating, detecting and prosecuting serious crime. In 2016, with an EU legal framework on data retention still lacking, the CJEU further clarified what safeguards are required for data retention to be lawful.This paper looks at amendments to national data retention laws in 2016 after the Digital Rights Ireland judgment.
    11
    July
    2017
    The European Parliament requested this FRA Opinion on the fundamental rights and personal data protection implications of the proposed Regulation for the creation of a European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), including an assessment of the fundamental rights aspects of the access
    by law enforcement authorities and Europol.
    7
    July
    2017
    Various proposals on EU-level information systems in the areas of borders and security mention interoperability, aiming to provide fast and easy access to information about third-country nationals.
    30
    May
    2017
    Diverse efforts at both EU and national levels sought to bolster fundamental rights protection in 2016, while some measures threatened to undermine such protection.
    30
    May
    2017
    Diverse efforts at both EU and national levels sought to bolster fundamental rights protection in 2016, while some measures threatened to undermine such protection.
    29
    May
    2017
    This year marks the 10th anniversary of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. Such a milestone offers an opportunity for reflection – both on the progress that provides cause for celebration and on the lingering shortcomings that must be addressed.
    The Agency’s Director, Michael O’Flaherty, took part in a meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) on 9 February.
    25
    January
    2017
    The European Parliament asked the Agency to provide its Opinion on the fundamental rights impact of the proposed revision of the Eurodac Regulation on children.
    5
    December
    2016
    EU Member States are increasingly involved in border management activities on the high seas, within – or i cooperation with – third countries, and at the EU’s borders. Such activities entail risks of violating the principle of non-refoulement, the cornerstone of the international legal regime for the protection of refugees, which prohibits returning individuals to a risk of persecution. This report aims to encourage fundamental-rights compliant approaches to border management, including by highlighting potential grey areas.
    5
    December
    2016
    EU Member States are increasingly involved in border management activities on the high seas, within – or in cooperation with – third countries, and at the EU’s borders. Such activities entail risks of violating the principle of non-refoulement, the cornerstone of the international legal regime for the protection of refugees, which prohibits returning individuals to a risk of persecution. This guidance outlines specific suggestions on how to reduce the risk of refoulement in these situations – a practical tool developed with the input of experts during a meeting held in Vienna in March of 2016.
    30
    May
    2016
    The European Union (EU) and its Member States introduced and pursued numerous initiatives to safeguard and strengthen
    fundamental rights in 2015. Some of these efforts produced important progress; others fell short of their aims. Meanwhile,
    various global developments brought new – and exacerbated existing – challenges.
    30
    May
    2016
    The European Union (EU) and its Member States introduced and pursued
    numerous initiatives to safeguard and strengthen fundamental rights in 2015.
    FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2016 summarises and analyses major
    developments in the fundamental rights field, noting both progress made
    and persisting obstacles. This publication presents FRA’s opinions on the
    main developments in the thematic areas covered and a synopsis of the
    evidence supporting these opinions. In so doing, it provides a compact but
    informative overview of the main fundamental rights challenges confronting
    the EU and its Member States.
    21
    December
    2015
    The proposal to establish a possible legislative instrument supplementing the existing European Criminal Records Information System with information on third-country nationals convicted in the EU raises a number of fundamental rights issues.
    18
    November
    2015
    This report, drafted in response to the European Parliament’s call for thorough research on fundamental rights protection in the context of surveillance, maps and analyses the legal frameworks on surveillance in place in EU Member States.
    18
    November
    2015
    In April 2014, the European Parliament requested the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) “to undertake in–depth research on the protection of fundamental rights in the context
    of surveillance”. This summary presents FRA’s main research findings, which are published in full in the report entitled Surveillance by intelligence services: fundamental rights safeguards and remedies in the EU – Mapping Member States’ legal frameworks.
    22
    October
    2015
    Processing biometric data for immigration, asylum and border management purposes has become common. This focus paper looks at measures authorities can take to enforce the obligation of newly arrived asylum seekers and migrants in an irregular situation to provide fingerprints for inclusion in Eurodac.
    25
    June
    2015
    European Union (EU) Member States and institutions introduced a number of legal and policy measures in 2014 to safeguard fundamental rights in the EU. Notwithstanding these efforts, a great deal remains to be done, and it can be seen that the situation in some areas is alarming: the number of migrants rescued or apprehended at sea as they were trying to reach Europe’s borders quadrupled over 2013; more than a quarter of children in the EU are at risk of poverty or social exclusion; and an increasing number of political parties use xenophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric in their campaigns, potentially increasing some people’s vulnerability to becoming victims of crime or hate crime.
    EU internal security concerns, including the threat of terrorist attacks, have affected the data protection debate, while mass surveillance and government secrecy have continued to be widely discussed.
    26
    January
    2015
    FRA was requested by the European Commission (EC) in January 2014 to provide practical guidance on the processing of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data for law enforcement purposes, in light of efforts by Member States to establish national PNR systems. As a result, in informal consultation with EC services and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) and building on opinions FRA, the EDPS and the Article 29 Working Party on PNR, FRA presented twelve fundamental rights considerations to EU Member States experts at technical level.
    9
    July
    2014
    The EU and its Member States took a variety of important steps in 2013 to protect and promote fundamental rights by
    assuming
    new international commitments, revamping legislation and pursuing innovative policies on the ground. Yet, fundamental
    rights violations seized the spotlight with distressing frequency: would‑be migrants drowning off the EU’s coast,
    unprecedented mass surveillance, racist and extremist‑motivated murders, child poverty and Roma deprivation.