Indisputable rewording of Amendment 138

La Quadrature du Net sent this proposal to the Parliament last week.

It takes into account the good-faith concerns expressed against the original version of amendement 138 (see our memo), which was voted twice by 88% of the European Parliament. Located in article 8.4.h of the Framework directive, it gives National Regulatory Authorities shall promote the interests of the citizens of the European Union by:

“applying the principle that any restrictions to the access and usage of electronic communications services, in that they prevent the practical exercise of freedom of expression and communication and in order to ensure the proportionality of any such restriction, may only be imposed subsequently to a decision by the judicial authorities¹In the event where the mention of “judicial authorities” still represents a problem for Member States, the term could be replaced by “an independent and impartial tribunal”. What needs to be preserved in amendment 138 is the material definition of the judiciary authority, i.e the procedural guarantees traditionally attached to the judiciary branch and guaranteed by Community and European law for any penal sentence. The final text could therefore refer to the right to a due process and other procedural guarantees attached to impartial and independent tribunal typically in charge of judging penal offenses amounting to the deprivation of liberty, in accordance with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.”