European Union member states could be forced to keep records of all electronic communications for at least one year under a proposal leaked to civil rights campaigners.
The draft Framework Decision, formulated by the Belgian government, proposes that telecommunications companies within the EU should retain records of all telephone calls and email messages for at least 12 months.
This information would then be made available to law enforcement agencies of any member state - although agencies would need a judicial order to obtain this information.
Civil liberties groups say such a change would enforce blanket electronic surveillance across the whole of Europe.
"Basically they are saying that all European Union citizens are potential criminals are they are going to spy on them," Ian Brown, director of the UK's Foundation for Information Policy Research, told New Scientist. Brown claims the proposal would be illegal under human rights law.
New European data retention laws were proposed in September 2001, to help police combat the threat of terrorism. In June 2002, the European Parliament voted to allow member states to ignore existing data protection regulations, which did not permit telecomms companies to pass data on. Law enforcement agencies could then request traffic data for reasons of national security.
The new proposal would make data retention compulsory and would also extend the list of crimes for which data could be accessed.
Tony Bunyan, editor of UK-based civil liberties watchdog Statewatch, which obtained the document, says: "Under the guise of fighting terrorism everyone's communications are to be placed under surveillance."
Statewatch says it is alarmed that the Belgian proposal does not include any reference to regulation and supervision of data retention, or to an individual's right to compensation if data is misused.
Law enforcement agencies could request information in relation to investigation of a variety of crimes, including participation in a criminal organisation, trafficking in human beings, sexual exploitation, computer-related crime, racism, counterfeiting and product piracy.
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