DOCUMENTS AND PUBLICATIONS

FECL 59 (December 1999)

Secrecy and Openness in the EU, by Tony Bunyan, publ. by Kogan Page, London, November 1999, paperback, 79 pages.

Both before and after the Maastricht Treaty the EU's Justice and Home Affairs apparatus was outside parliamentary control, and was not within the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. The EU did eventually adopt a procedure to apply for documents which was supposed to improve citizens' access to information. However, JHA decision-making continued to be surrounded by secrecy. In this book, Tony Bunyan, the editor of STATEWATCH magazine, analyses the emergence of this secret system and the challenges to it both through exposure and by campaigns to procure documents. Tony Bunyan has championed the issue of access to information for years. The quality of the factual and analytical material in this book confirms what "insiders" have known for a long time: Bunyan is Europe's foremost expert on "secrecy vs freedom of information" in the EU.

Available from: Kogan Page, London; tel: +44/1903 828800, fax: +44/171 8376348; E-mail: orders@lbsltd.co.uk

On Globalisation of Control: Towards an Integrated Surveillance System in Europe, by Prof. Thomas Mathiesen, publ. by Statewatch, London, November 1999, brochure, 36 p.

Thomas Mathiesen is professor of sociology of law at the University of Oslo. He has done research and published a number of books in a wide variety of areas such as sociology of law, criminology, political sociology and sociology of the media. In recent years he has been actively engaged in research on the new European surveillance systems. This paper deals with the increasing use of electronic systems for policing purposes (such as SIS, the Europl system, CIS, and Eurodac) by the State. Modern State-sponsored surveillance is particularly dangerous, the author argues, because of its "hidden character pulverises resistance and prevents it from coming on the agenda of public attention".

Available from: Statewatch, PO Box 1516, London N16 0EW; Tel: +44/181/8021882; Fax: +44/181 8801727; e-mail: office@statewatch.org

JHA DOCUMENTS (available from 'Fortress Europe?')

Consequences of the Treaty of Amsterdam on readmission clauses in Community agreements and in agreements between the European Community, its Member States and third countries (mixed agreements), Strategic Committee on Frontiers, Immigration and Asylum, 12134/99, Limite, Migr 64, 21.10.99:

Finnish initiative on the adoption of a Council regulation determining the member states mutual obligations regarding the readmission of third-country nationals, EU Council, SN 4583/99, 3.11.99 (in Swedish only).

Draft Convention on mutual assistance in criminal matters (CMACM):

  • interception of telecommunications, EU Presidency, 11157/99, Limite, Copen 39, 21.9.99; and, 10938/99, Limite, Copen 35, 17.9.99.

  • interception of subjects on national territory using national service providers ("remote approach"), Presidency, 7196/99, Limite, Justpen 22, 7.4.99.

  • application of the "remote approach" regarding interception of satellite telecommunications, Coreper, 61951/1/99, Rev 1, Limite, Justpen 7, 9.3.99.

  • application of the remote approach regarding the interception of satellite communications, Working Party on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, 6195/99, Limite, Justpen 7, 19.2.99.

Follow-up of the Tampere Summit: Technical working paper, 25.10.99, Presidency, Commission, Council General Secretariat. "The document analyses various items from the Tampere Conclusions where follow-up action is needed, and gives indication of where the responsibility for starting the process lies, together with indicative dates by when initiative should be taken or action should be completed".

Training on encryption devices, JHA Council (Schengen), 10660/99, Limite, SIS-TECH 123, Comix 189, 2.9.99.

Maintenance Contract KK Encryption Devices, JHA Council (Schengen), 10667/99, Limite, SIS TECH 130, Comix 196, 10.9.99.