Brief description:

This PhD thesis focuses on the studying of the legal pathways for the accountability of FRONTEX for potential fundamental rights obligations in a very specific context: the framework of the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR).
EUROSUR is the most important mechanism for the exchange of information concerning migrants and migrant routes, established with the main purpose of preventing, detecting and combating irregular migration and cross-border crime. In the context of EUROSUR, Member States (MS) and Frontex are to create situational pictures containing information about ‘events and incidents related to unauthorised border crossings and cross-border crime’, information on unauthorised secondary movements, information on operations, and analysed information that is relevant for the purposes of Regulation 2019/1896.
This framework allows for the sharing of information between different actors, mainly between FRONTEX and the Member States of the Union, but it is also possible for third countries and other EU institutions, offices, bodies and agencies, and international organisations to be involved in the data sharing.
The sharing of information with different actors is problematic in regards the protection of the fundamental rights as established in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) for several reasons, the main reason being that that Regulation 2019/1896 does not contain sufficient protection for the processing of personal data.
This Regulation introduced the possibility to process personal data only and to the extent that those data are limited to the purpose of EUROSUR: the detection, prevention and fight against irregular migration and cross-border crime. However, this purpose is very vague and can lead to the processing of personal data for a purpose other than that for which it was collected, violating the right to data protection (Art 8 CFR).
This has also been highlighted by the European Data Protection Supervisor, who determined that there were several aspects of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 that were lacking an adequate protection for personal data. The EDPS pointed out that Article 89 of the Regulation (concerning the rules for processing of personal data in EUROSUR) lacked adequate data protection safeguards. Additionally, the EDPS contended that the regulation did not contain the key elements for data protection (purpose, categories of data subjects, categories of data processed, data controllers or categories of data controllers, protections to prevent abuse, and data retention period), which may contravene the CFR.
Although FRONTEX has amended its rules for the processing of personal data In 2024, Regulation 2019/1896 has not been amended. Moreover, in the 2024 evaluation of said Regulation, the Commission established that there was a lack of clarity as to the type of personal data that EUROSUR can process.
For those reasons, studying the potential fundamental rights violations that may be committed by FRONTEX in this context, as well as studying the possible pathways to hold the Agency accountable is of great importance.

Methodology:

For the development of the doctoral thesis, different methodologies will be used. Firstly, the dogmatic method will be used to analyse the current regulations related to the subject. Among other regulations, the following will be analysed: Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2019 on the European Border and Coast Guard; Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/581 of 9 April 2021 on the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) situational maps; Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union, and on the free movement of such data. Relevant case law from different international courts will also be analysed. Secondly, the case method will be used to analyse Frontex's liability. It will start from different scenarios in which Frontex exchanges information with the different actors involved in the surveillance of the EU's external borders (Member States, international organisations, third countries, and other EU institutions, bodies and agencies). From these scenarios, the problematic legal issues will be extracted and analysed: Which fundamental rights can be infringed in the process of information exchange and in what way, Whether Frontex can be held liable for such possible infringements of fundamental rights. Furthermore, in order to obtain additional information, semi-structured interviews will be conducted with the different authorities in charge of the information exchanges that are the subject of this dissertation.

Keywords: Frontex, fundamental rights, EUROSUR, accountability, EU border surveillance

Home University:

University of Deusto

Faculty:

Faculty of Law

Supervisor: David Fernandez Rojo

Added to catalogue on: 25-03-2024

Additional information: