Second order secrecy and Europe’s legality mosaics

Abstract

In today’s information society the citizen is ever more visible to government and to private companies while paradoxically government itself becomes ever more secret. This asymmetry is not caused by secrecy implying deliberate or intentional concealment of information. Rather, it results from systems of secrets held by remote or non-visible public and private actors, having been put together in an invisible manner. Second order secrecy is enhanced in the EU by the composite character of EU administration. In the EU it is the courts ‒ and not the legislature or the administration ‒ that are playing an active role in addressing bits of the transparency paradox for the citizen from the perspective of legality and the rule of law. Three different aspects of EU governance are explored from the legal perspective: terrorist blacklists, interoperable security administration and mandatory data retention and transfer.

Keywords:

• Secrecy
• composite administration
• European Union
• data retention
• interoperability
• publicity

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments and to the participants in workshops in Munich, Florence, Copenhagen and Amsterdam for stimulating discussions on earlier drafts. My thanks to Filipe Brito Bastos and Michal Krajewski for excellent research assistance. All errors are mine.

Notes

1. Abdelrazik v. Canada (Minister of Foreign Affairs), 2009 F.C. 580, para. 53.

2. Joined Cases C-402 and 415/05 P, Kadi and Al Barakaat v. Council and Commission, ECLI:EU:C:2008:461.

3. Case T-228/02, Organisation des Modjahedines du peuple d’Iran v. Council, ECLI:EU:T:2006:384, para. 127–30.

4. Ibid., para. 148.

5. Case C-266/05 P, Sison, ECLI:EU:C:2006:75.

6. Case C-27/09 P, France v. OMPI/PMOI, ECLI:EU:C:2011:853, para. 63.

7. Case C-27/09 P (opinion of AG Sharpston), ECLI:EU:C:2011:482, paras. 220–21.

8. Case C-503/03, ECLI:EU:C:2006:74.

9. Ibid., § 56.

10. Case C-362/14, Schrems, ECLI:EU:C:2015:650.

11. Case C-301/06, Ireland v. EP and Council, ECLI:EU:C:2009:68.

12. Joined Cases C-293/12 and C-594/12, Digital Rights Ireland and Seitlinger, ECLI:EU:C:2014:238.

13. Ibid., para. 27.

14. Ibid., para. 37.

15. Joined Cases C-203/15 and C-698/15, Tele2 Sverige and Watson and Others, EU:C:2016:970.

16. Opinion 1/15, ECLI:EU:C:2017:592.

17. Ibid., para. 128.

18. Ibid., para. 130.

19. Ibid., para. 190–91.

20. Ibid., para. 164.

21. Ibid., para. 176.

22. Opinion 1/15 (opinion of AG Mengozzi), ECLI:EU:C:2016:656, para. 288.

23. Opinion 1/15, para. 232.2(d).

24. Joined Cases C-293/12 and C-594/12, Digital Rights Ireland and Seitlinger, ECLI:EU:C:2014:238.

25. Joined Cases C-203/15 and C-698/15, Tele 2 Sverige, ECLI:EU:C:2016:970.