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Commission registers a European Citizens’ Initiative requesting “a ban on biometric mass surveillance practices”
On 7 January, the European Commission registered a European Citizens’ Initiative calling for a ban “biometrics mass surveillance practices”. A European Citizens’ Initiative is a mechanism that allows one million citizens to invite the European Commission to propose a legal act.
This Initiative on biometrics was brought by NGOs, including EDRi and La Quadrature du Net. It urges the Commission to propose a legislation to permanently end “indiscriminate and arbitrarily-targeted uses of biometric data in ways which can lead to mass surveillance or any undue interference with fundamental rights.”
The European Citizens’ Initiative meets all the legal requirements, hence the European Commission registered it. This means that the organisers of the Initiative now need to collect one million signatures of support within the next 6 months, from at least 7 different Member States.
If the organisers reach this target, the Commission will have to decide whether to follow the request or not and give a reasoning for the decision.
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