E.R. Brouwer

Digital borders and real rights. Effective remedies for third-country nationals in the Schengen information system

This study describes the Schengen Information System and its implementation in France, Germany, and the Netherlands, and the availability of effective remedies for third-country nationals.

Legal Boundaries and the Use of Migration Technology

What are the legal boundaries in the use of databases and biometrics in border surveillance and migration policy? This chapter aims to reach a better understanding of the standards that are frequently neglected against the backdrop of current developments or whose importance is all too easily trivialized: the right to privacy, the principle of nondiscrimination and two substantive standards relating to data protection law: the purpose limitation principle and the prohibition on automated decision-making.

Mutual trust and Human Rights in the AFSJ: in search of guidelines for National Courts

Several academics, this author included, have criticized the CJEU when dealing with the question of “rebuttal of trust” for the application of the principle of mutual trust between Member States in the Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice (AFSJ). Both the case-law dealing with the Dublin mechanism in asylum matters, as per the opinion 2/13 of the CJEU in 2014, seemed to result in a battle with the Strasbourg Court on the hegemony to interpret the scope of mutual trust, rather than offering clear guidelines for national courts. This contribution questions whether a comparison of judgments in different fields of the AFSJ and recent case-law of both European Courts justifies a new approach. Instead of focussing on the differences in decision-making of the European Courts, the goal of this contribution is to deduce common criteria from the European case-law to be applied by national courts when addressing claims of rebuttal of trust. Providing a general overview of the case-law of the CJEU and the Strasbourg Court in the field of civil and commercial law, criminal law, migration law and matrimonial affairs, this contribution questions which criteria may be applied by the national court of the enforcing or executing State when considering trust as rebutted.

Access to Personal Data and the Right to Good Governance during Asylum Procedures after the CJEU’s YS and M. and S. judgment (C-141/12 and C-372/12)

In the YS. and M. and S. judgment, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on three procedures in which Dutch judges asked for clarification on the right of asylum seekers to have access to the documents regarding the decision on asylum applications. The judgment is relevant for interpreting the concept of personal data and the scope of the right of access under the Data Protection Directive, and the right to good administration in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. At first glance, the judgment seems disappointing from the viewpoint of individual rights. Nevertheless, in our view the judgment provides sufficient grounds for effective access rights to the minutes in future asylum cases.