Justice ministers are having consultations on data protection, the facilitation of cross-border debt recovery and the freezing of proceeds of crime within the EU on the second day of the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting in Cyprus. Hungary is represented by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Public Administration and Justice Dr Tibor Navracsics.

In the first section of the informal council, ministers are discussing the fundamental principles of the EU data protection reform. The Commission submitted its package of proposals in January (the draft of a regulation and a directive), the purpose of which is to create simpler, safer and more cost-effective data protection services for data subjects and businesses in the EU. Hungary agrees with the objective of creating standard, new EU data protection rules, against the background that the independence of the national data protection authorities should be left uncurtailed. The Government also endorses the principle that, upon the creation of the EU data protection rules, particular regard should be paid to the interests of micro-businesses and small- and medium-sized enterprises; however, subject to the continued maintenance of the high-level protection of rights as the right to the protection of personal data is a fundamental right provided for in the Charter and in the constitutions of the individual Member States. Hungary also supports the objective that different, flexible framework rules must be determined for data management in the public and private sectors and that the rules that govern data management in the public sector should be more stringent as, in this segment, the information autonomy of data subjects is limited.

The topic of the second section is the freezing and confiscation of proceeds of crime within the EU. The purpose of the proposed directive is to facilitate for the authorities of the Member States the confiscation and recovery of the proceeds of cross-border serious and organised crime, to protect the legal economy from crime and corruption and to channel any profit derived from crime to the authorities. Organised crime groups are increasingly hiding and investing their assets in Member States other than that of the commission of crime, thereby causing major losses to the European economy. Hungary supports the Commission’s concept, and in the event of its passage, it is ready to integrate its directives into the Hungarian Penal Code and other legal rules concerning criminal proceedings.

The facilitation of the recovery of cross-border debts is also on the agenda. Hungary fully agrees with this proposal as well, with special regard to the fact that this is an objective that is also identified in Hungary’s Széll Kálmán Plan and, in the course of the recent amendment of the legal rules regarding court execution, the relevant Hungarian regulations themselves have been altered to pursue this direction. The proposal also includes the formulation of a European procedure for freezing bank accounts. This would enable the EU to prevent debtors from withdrawing their funds from one Member State and moving them to another.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)