Police may not simply store biometric and genetic data of convicted criminals in a general and arbitrary manner until their death. Instead, it must be regularly assessed whether data storage is necessary to prevent, detect, investigate or prosecute crimes, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Tuesday in Luxembourg. It was about a case from Bulgaria.
There, someone was reported to the police for making a false witness statement and later sentenced to a one-year suspended sentence. After his rehabilitation, he applied to be removed from the police register. However, according to Bulgarian law, such data is kept indefinitely and may be processed by the authorities. It contained fingerprints, a DNA sample and a photo, as well as information about previous crimes and convictions.
Storage of data limits
The strike proposal was rejected and the case went to court. Bulgaria’s Supreme Administrative Court in Sofia must rule and refer questions to the ECJ. This now places limits on the storage of such data.
He admitted that information about previous crimes could be essential to establish whether the person involved was involved in further crimes. However, not all former offenders are equally at risk of committing new crimes. Therefore, this data may not be stored indiscriminately.
Regular inspection necessary
Lifelong storage is only appropriate under certain circumstances and depends on the nature and severity of the offenses committed and whether the person has relapsed. The ECJ further explained whether storage is still necessary and should be checked regularly.
If this is no longer the case, the data subject should be granted the right to have this data deleted. The Bulgarian court must now decide this specific case. It is bound by the legal advice of the Court of Justice.
Source: Krone
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