Processing Personal Data by the Police in the Light of Changes in EU Law

In implementing their statutory tasks the Police can acquire a whole range of personal information, including sensitive data. This usually has a direct relation with combating crime. Therefore, such powers might be implemented without the knowledge and consent of persons to whom the information (data) concerns. Because police activities cause serious and profound intrusion into the sphere of a person’s private life, whose protection is guaranteed by the Constitution, they must be carried out within the limits strictly permitted by law. When discussing national regulations in force which control the issue of personal data protection, one must also take into consideration EU regulations. First of all the European Parliament and Council Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of 27th April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and the European Parliament and Council Directive (EU) 2016/680 of 27th April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data. This directive, commonly known as the police directive, constitutes regulations on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences and execution of penalties. The national legislator faces a difficult task of implementation of the above-mentioned European legal acts, all the more so because the choice of particular solutions, to be adopted in their transposition to the legislative and implementing provisions, still remains an open issue. The adopted solutions ought to, on the one hand, ensure coherence with national regulations that implement them, on the other hand, they ought to cause the appropriate adjustment of the Polish law regulations to their requirements. The article presents the normative contents and remarks regarding appropriate, consistent with EU law processing of personal data by the Police.