High-Level Group (HLG) on access to data for effective law enforcement

The High-Level Group (HLG) on access to data for effective law enforcement, launched by the Commission in June 2023, and co-chaired by the Commission and the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU explores any challenges that law enforcement practitioners in the Union face in their daily work in connection to access to data and potential solutions to overcome them, with the aim of ensuring the availability of effective law enforcement tools to fight crime and enhance public security in the digital age, in full respect of fundamental rights.

Mission

The objectives of the HLG are to:

Establish a collaborative and inclusive platform for stakeholders from all relevant sectors, including law enforcement, data protection experts, private sector operators, NGOs, and academia, to work towards commonly accepted solutions.
Formulate a strategic forward-looking vision on how to address current and anticipated challenges against the background of technological developments, enabling a comprehensive EU approach to ensure access to data for effective law enforcement.
Propose recommendations for the further development of Union policies to enhance and improve access to data for the purpose of effective law enforcement.

Recommendations

The High-Level Group recommendations for the further development of Union policies and legislation to enhance and improve access to data for effective law enforcement were prepared by the experts of the working groups and endorsed at the 4^th Plenary meeting of the Group on 21 May. The 42 recommendations of the HLG reflect the views of the experts only and should not be considered as representative of the European Commission’s official position.

Concluding Report

Following the adoption of the Recommendations, the group was requested to produce a Concluding Report. Building on the recommendations, the report seeks to provide more rationale and context, outline how the recommendations could be operationalized, and to provide a clear and concise narrative on access to data for law enforcement. It was endorsed at the 5th Plenary meeting of the Group on 15 November. The opinions expressed in the Report are those of the High-Level Group experts only and should not be considered as representative of the European Commission’s or the Council’s official positions.

Meetings

Public Consultation Meeting on 20 February 2024

Plenary

The HLG has met 5 times at plenary level.

1^st meeting on 19 June 2023:

2^nd meeting on 21 November 2023:

3^rd meeting on 1 March 2024:

4^th meeting on 21 May 2024:

Agenda

5^th meeting on 15 November 2024:

Agenda

Working Groups

The HLG is supported by technical sub-groups (‘working groups’) to enable deeper discussions on specific topics in a more restricted format.

Working Group 1 (access to data at rest in a user’s device)
- 1^st meeting on 19 July 2023: agenda and background document
- 2^nd meeting on 5 December 2023: agenda and background document
- 3^rd meeting on 12 March 2024: agenda
Working Group 2 (access to data at rest in a provider’s system)
- 1^st meeting on 6 September 2023: agenda and background document
- 2^nd meeting on 16 January 2024: agenda and background document
- 3^rd meeting on 19 March 2024: agenda and request for input
Working Group 3 (access to data in transit)
- 1^st meeting on 4 October 2023: agenda and background document
- 2^nd meeting on 13 February 2024: agenda and background document
- 3^rd meeting on 10 April 2024: agenda and request for input

Useful documents

Contact

For questions about the HLG and its activities, you can reach us at the following email address: EC-HLG-GOING-DARKec [dot] europa [dot] eu (EC-HLG-GOING-DARK[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).