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THE EU has launched the second stage of consultations on a possible new directive on the protection of workers' data. While there are several existing European laws (see issue 19 page 8) on data protection in general there is very little that relates specifically to employment. The original round of advice seeking was based on a clause of the Amsterdam treaty which says that the European Commission must consult management and unions before putting forward possible measures of social legislation. It then makes the proposals and the social partners have a further six weeks to comment upon them. This stage has now been reached.The Commission state that there are three main reasons why they want to legislate on this subject at this time. These are 1) technological advance, e.g. e-mails, electronic files, the emergence of the 'home office' or telework which is increasingly blurring the boundary between work and private life, and cheaper genetic testing technology 2) globalisation, e.g. contracting out personnel functions to outside firms which may operate in another country with different data protection laws and 3) post 11 September insecurity, e.g. in the USA businesses may be expected to monitor workers or prospective workers as part of broader government efforts to step up security.
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For the unions, ETUC leader Emilio Gabaglio and, in the employers' corner Philippe de Buck, secretary general of UNICE |
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The original consultation fell under six main headings: consent, medical data, drugs and genetic testing, monitoring and surveillance, national legislation and international conventions. There was a clear divergence between the responses of unions and employers. The employers' organisations (UNICE, UEAPME, BDI) do not see any need for a new directive, on this subject. They feel that the existing EU legislation, passed in 1995 is adequate and sufficient to ensure high quality protection of workers' personal data. On the other hand, all employees' organisations ( ETUC, CEC and EUROCADRES), are in favour of a directive on this matter. They believe that the 1995 law is not specific to the work context and that national legislation is not sufficient bearing in mind the growing number of employees working for firms based in other Member States, the remaining restrictions on free movement of workers and the right to non-discrimination.
Taking the views of the two sides into account, the Commission has arrived at a set of principles which it says should form the basis for a framework directive. These come under under eight headings: (a) the scope and the legal context; (b) involvement of workers' representatives; (c) general provisions on processing; (d) special categories of data other than health data; (e) health data; (f) drug testing data; (g) genetic testing data; and (h) monitoring and surveillance. As well as comments the social partners are invited by the Commission to start negotiations if possible.
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The decision of the European Commission on second stage consultation of social partners on the protection of workers' personal data can be downloaded from the internet at: |
http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2002/oct/data_prot_en.html |
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