Description
Under the Screening Regulation, persons requesting asylum at the external borders, including those disembarked following search and rescue at sea operations and those apprehended in connection with their irregular crossing of the EU’s external border, will be subjected to individual screening. Such screening entails identification, security, vulnerability and health checks.
The security check serves to verify whether the third-country national concerned might pose a threat to internal security.
The security check of new arrivals entails consultations with relevant European and national databases and information technology systems as well as a check of the individuals and, where justified, the objects in their possession.
For the security check, next to identity documents, possible weapons and tickets, mobile phones may be one of the personal objects which authorities may consider important to check as they may store relevant information and contacts. Pursuant to Article 15 of the Screening Regulation, the national law of the Member State concerned applies to any searches carried out on the persons and on the objects in their possession. Recital (51) of the Regulation notes that “any measures applied in the context of a security check should be proportionate and should respect the human dignity of the persons subject to the screening” and that “[t]he authorities involved should ensure that the fundamental rights of the individuals concerned are respected, including the right to protection of personal data and freedom of expression.”
In practice, some EU Member States already require new arrivals to submit and/or unlock their mobile phones when they are first interviewed by the police or the immigration authorities. This research aimed to collect and analyse the national legal framework which may enable national authorities carrying out initial interviews with newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers to seize and extract data from their mobile phones.
