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
    De snelle ontwikkeling van de informatietechnologie heeft de noodzaak voor een degelijke bescherming
    van persoonsgegevens weer versterkt, het recht dat wordt gewaarborgd door zowel de Europese Unie
    (EU) als de Raad van Europa (RvE). De bescherming van dit belangrijke recht brengt nieuwe en belangrijke
    uitdagingen met zich mee, aangezien technologische ontwikkelingen de grenzen van domeinen zoals
    toezicht, onderschepping van communicatie en gegevensopslag, verlegt. Deze handleiding is bedoeld voor
    beoefenaars van juridische beroepen die niet gespecialiseerd zijn in gegevensbescherming, om vertrouwd
    te raken met dit opkomende domein van de wet.
    Producten
    11
    March
    2021
    In deze gids wordt uitgelegd wat profilering is, welke wettelijke kaders van toepassing zijn en waarom een rechtmatige toepassing van profilering niet alleen nodig is om aan de grondrechten te voldoen, maar ook van cruciaal belang is voor een doeltreffende ordehandhaving en grensbeheer.
    26
    October
    2018
    The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights’ 2018 Fundamental Rights Forum
    brought together more than 700 human rights champions at a time of
    widening social divisions and increasingly polarised politics across
    Europe.
    20
    September
    2018
    With enormous volumes of data generated every day, more and more decisions are based on data analysis and algorithms. This can bring welcome benefits, such as consistency and objectivity, but algorithms also entail great risks. A FRA focus paper looks at how the use of automation in decision making can result in, or exacerbate, discrimination.
    14
    September
    2018
    This Opinion by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) aims to inform the European Parliament’s position concerning the legislative proposal for a Regulation on strengthening the security of identity cards of European Union (EU) citizens and of residence documents issued to EU citizens and their family members exercising their right of free movement. It focuses on the processing of biometric data and complements the opinion published by the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS).
    12
    September
    2018
    In November 2017, the European Commission requested FRA’s support in evaluating the impact on fundamental rights of the European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur) Regulation. Further to this request, FRA reviewed the work of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and analysed cooperation agreements concluded by EU Member States with third countries which are relevant for the exchange of information for the purposes of Eurosur. This report presents the main findings of such review.
    10
    September
    2018
    This Opinion aims to
    inform the European Parliament’s position on the legislative proposal amending the
    Visa Information System, the Visa Code and other related provisions of EU law. The
    European Commission presented the proposal on 16 May 2018 and EU legislators are
    currently discussing it.
    6
    June
    2018
    The year 2017 brought both progress and setbacks in terms of rights protection. The European Pillar of Social Rights marked an important move towards a more ‘social Europe’. But, as experiences with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights underscore, agreement on a text is merely a first step. Even in its eighth year as the EU's binding bill of rights, the Charter's potential was not fully exploited, highlighting the need to more actively promote its use.
    6
    June
    2018
    Het jaar 2017 kende zowel voor- als achteruitgang in de bescherming van grondrechten. Het Verslag over de grondrechten 2018 van het FRA evalueert de belangrijkste ontwikkelingen op het gebied van de grondrechten, waarbij niet alleen wordt ingegaan op de successen die zijn behaald, maar ook wordt gewezen op de resterende punten van zorg.
    30
    May
    2018
    We live in a world of big data, where technological developments in the area of machine learning and artificial intelligence have changed the way we live. Decisions and processes concerning everyday life are increasingly automated, based on data. This affects fundamental rights in various ways. This focus paper specifically deals with discrimination, a fundamental rights area particularly affected by technological developments.
    25
    May
    2018
    New language version - Estonian
    04 November 2020
    De snelle ontwikkeling van de informatietechnologie heeft de noodzaak voor een degelijke bescherming
    van persoonsgegevens weer versterkt, het recht dat wordt gewaarborgd door zowel de Europese Unie
    (EU) als de Raad van Europa (RvE). De bescherming van dit belangrijke recht brengt nieuwe en belangrijke
    uitdagingen met zich mee, aangezien technologische ontwikkelingen de grenzen van domeinen zoals
    toezicht, onderschepping van communicatie en gegevensopslag, verlegt. Deze handleiding is bedoeld voor
    beoefenaars van juridische beroepen die niet gespecialiseerd zijn in gegevensbescherming, om vertrouwd
    te raken met dit opkomende domein van de wet.
    17
    May
    2018
    Maatschappelijke organisaties in de Europese Unie spelen een cruciale rol bij de bevordering van grondrechten, maar het is moeilijker geworden voor hen om dat te doen – wegens
    zowel wettelijke als praktische beperkingen. In alle lidstaten van de EU zijn er uitdagingen, maar de precieze aard en omvang ervan verschillen. Gegevens en onderzoek op dit gebied –
    inclusief vergelijkend onderzoek – ontbreken over het algemeen.
    In het verslag van het FRA wordt daarom gekeken naar de verschillende soorten en patronen van uitdagingen waarmee maatschappelijke organisaties die zich inzetten voor de mensenrechten in de EU, worden geconfronteerd. In het verslag wordt ook de aandacht gevestigd op veelbelovende praktijken die deze zorgwekkende patronen kunnen tegengaan.
    9
    May
    2018
    Med tiltagende trusler i form af terrorisme, internetangreb og sofistikerede grænseoverskridende kriminelle netværk er efterretningstjenesternes arbejde blevet mere påtrængende, komplekst og internationalt. Dette arbejde kan kraftigt forstyrre de grundlæggende rettigheder, især beskyttelsen af personoplysninger og privatlivets fred. Selvom den fortsatte teknologiske udvikling potentielt
    forværrer risikoen for en sådan forstyrrelse, kan et effektivt tilsyn og effektive retsmidler bremse muligheden for misbrug.
    This video blog by FRA Director Michael O'Flaherty is released periodically and will address burning fundamental rights themes.
    19
    April
    2018
    This Opinion by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) aims to inform the European Parliament position concerning legislative proposals on interoperability between EU information technology systems (IT systems) presented on 12 December 2017 and currently discussed by the EU legislators.
    28
    March
    2018
    This report outlines the fundamental rights implications of collecting, storing and using
    biometric and other data in EU IT systems in the area of asylum and migration.
    Mario Oetheimer presented FRA’s second surveillance report to the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee on 21 November in Brussels.
    This is the recording of the online press briefing about mass surveillance as presented by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) on 16 October 2017.
    This second volume, ‘Surveillance by intelligence services: fundamental rights safeguards and remedies in the EU’, explores legal changes since the first volume in 2015 and how these laws are applied in practice. It is based on data from all EU Member States on the legal framework governing surveillance and complemented by field research in seven Member States: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. This involved more than 70 interviews with a range of stakeholders related to surveillance. These included overseers and controllers from the executive, indedepent expert bodies, parliamentary committees, the judiciary and actors from the civil society. These quotes are contained in the report. Below are a selection of some of them:
    23
    October
    2017
    This report is FRA’s second publication addressing a European Parliament request for in-depth research on the impact of surveillance on fundamental rights. It updates FRA’s 2015 legal analysis on the topic, and supplements that analysis with field-based insights gained from extensive interviews with diverse experts in intelligence and related fields, including its oversight.