Privacy watchdog concerned over EU transport plan

Vehicle tracking and data collection could impinge on privacy

Systems could track vehicles

The European Commission's proposed plan for intelligent transport systems could breach data protection laws, according to European data protection supervisor Peter Hustinx.

Intelligent transport systems use IT to co-ordinate transport infrastructure and vehicles with the intention of making transport safer, quicker and less congested.

But although the Commission has taken data protection into account in the proposed legal framework, member states may interpret legislation in a different way, according to Hustinx.

"There is a risk that the lack of clarity of the proposed legal framework will create diversity in the implementation of intelligent transport systems and will lead to considerable uncertainty, fragmentation and inconsistencies, due to different levels of data protection in Europe," he said.

"Further harmonisation of data protection issues at EU level is needed so that the many benefits offered by those systems are not hampered by a lack of compliance with essential safeguards for data protection."

Hustinx is concerned that the legislation could make it possible to track a vehicle and to collect a wide variety of data relating to European road users' driving habits.

He is also concerned the plan will lead to further collection and processing of personal data such as passenger lists, and points out that there are a number of possible data controllers within the scheme, meaning that currently no single entity has responsibility for data protection compliance.

He stresses that privacy and security requirements should be incorporated within systems from the start.