December 2008

In a judgement today the European Court of Human Rights (which is not the EU court) has ruled that the UK government's refusal to delete the fingerprints and DNA of 2 British people not convicted of an offence one of them 11 years old was a breach of the privacy provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights as the policy 'could not be regarded as necessary in democratic society'.

London MEP Sarah Ludford Liberal Democrat European justice and human rights spokeswoman has recently led a successful campaign to set 12 - rather than 6 as many governments wanted - as the minimum age for fingerprinting for visas and passports in Europe. Commenting on today's judgement she said:

The Socialist (PSE) and Conservative (EPP) groups which together have a majority in the European Parliament have allied to deny a request made by the Liberal Green and the Communist groups for a debate on Guantanamo and the CIA extraordinary rendition programme in next week's European Parliamentary plenary session in Strasbourg.

London MEP Sarah Ludford Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman was vice-chair of the enquiry by MEPs 2 years ago into European governments' collusion with illegal rendition and CIA flights the programme of kidnap torture and secret prisons that broke all norms of international and domestic law. She said:

Just ahead of Christmas MEPs are expected to pass new EU legislation this week to make toys safer by toughening the regulations.

The new law will require clearer 'warning' labels expand the list of banned substances to include allergenic fragrances sometimes found in playdough and seek to reduce the risk of suffocation or strangling from small detachable parts of toys. Also this week MEPs will strengthen controls to tackle the illegal trade of counterfeit goods which can include toys.

London's Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford said:

"The festive season is good timing for the EU to act as Santa Claus by improving child safety. This adds to the long record of action that the EU has taken to protect both the consumer and our children over the years."

MEPs are set to endorse legislation approved by the European Parliament's Transport Committee which would enable cross-border enforcement of penalties for the serious driving offences of speeding drink driving failure to wear a seat belt and running red lights.

Currently tickets for traffic offences incurred in states other than the driver's home country mostly get ignored. This means impunity for irresponsible driving that puts safety at risk. The new legislation would mean that the authorities in the offender's home state will be notified that he has failed to pay within the specified period and they will then recognise and enforce the penalty whether criminal or administrative.