Security.co.uk, 4 April 2014: 'Majority of Lower House positive about license plate data storage'

“A majority in the Lower House on Thursday seemed to back Minister Opstelten's bill stipulating that all license plates on Dutch roads will be stored for four weeks for investigation and prosecution. This will be done through large-scale camera surveillance and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR).

VVD, PVV, CDA, SGP and MP Bontes are in favour. The Labour Party and the Christian Union are not against the law, but they are still waiting for answers from the minister. D66 is not yet sure. The SP is against. The debate was suspended halfway through and will continue next week.

Storage

Under current rules, ANPR data of unsuspicious citizens must be deleted within 24 hours. However, due to Opstelten's bill, everyone's ANPR data will now end up in a police database for 4 weeks. During this period, the police may access and use the data if necessary for a crime investigation.

Cameras along roads already automatically record car registration plates, including for traffic violations. They also allow police to immediately arrest vehicles they are looking for or whose owners have outstanding fines. What is new is that all license plate data will now be stored daily in a database.

Foundation

Privacy First considers this bill to violate the right to privacy in the sense of anonymity in public spaces: the right to travel freely and anonymously in one's own country. "The current bill massively violates this right and is even counterproductive: it will not contribute to more effective detection, but will mainly lead to a social "chilling effect", misuse of ANPR data and identity fraud with fake or stolen license plates."

"Every motorist becomes a potential suspect," Privacy First chairman Bas Filippini told RTL News. "You have to trust the government, but that government itself distrusts citizens," Filippini said.

If both the Lower and Upper Houses will pass the bill despite all objections, Privacy First will sue the Dutch state for unlawful legislation in violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to privacy)."

Source: https://www.security.nl/posting/383615/Meerderheid+Tweede+kamer+positief+over+opslag+kentekengegevens, 4 April 2014.