EDPS Orders Europol to Erase Data Concerning Individuals with No Established Link to a Criminal Activity

On 3 January 2022, the European Data Protection Supervisor (“EDPS”) notified Europol of an order to delete data concerning individuals with no established link to a criminal activity (Data Subject Categorisation), with the decision dated 21st of December 2021 numbered Cases 2019-0370 & 2021-0699.

The EDPS admonished Europol in September 2020 for the continued storage of large volumes of data with no Data Subject Categorisation, which poses a risk to individuals’ fundamental rights. Europol was keeping this data for longer than necessary, contrary to the principles of data minimisation and storage limitation, enshrined in the Europol Regulation.

  • The EDPS imposed a 6 month retention period to filter and to extract the personal data. Datasets older than 6 months that have not undergone this Data Subject Categorisation must be erased. Europol will no longer be permitted to retain data about people who have not been linked to a crime or a criminal activity for long periods with no set deadline.
  • The EDPS has granted a 12 month period for Europol to comply with the Decision for the datasets already received before this decision was notified to Europol.

You can reach the further information here.

Kind regards,

Zumbul Attorneys at Law

info@zumbul.av.tr