The Interior Minister of France, Bruno Retillea, has revived a debate on whether the police have the authority to find an individual’s mobile phone, but what does the real law say?
On Sunday, in an interview on the French television network LCI, the Interior Minister of France, Bruno Retilleau, his desire to make possible phones suspected of staying in France illegally.
“I want there to be the possibility of looking for phones, because the phones are the ones that allow us to see where the abroad comes from illegally,” he said in LCI.
What are the rules about the French police that look through the phones?
Currently, there are limits in police powers to confiscate and look for any person’s mobile phone.
Legal expert Alexis Baudelin said BFMTV That, “Searching for a criminal investigation of a mobile phone is equivalent to the search for a house.”
An individual detained by the police must first accept that his phone is examined, or a judge must authorize the digital data exam on the phone before a search can be carried out.
The only exception to this rule is whether a person stops in the act of committing a crime, in which case a digital search for a mobile phone in his possession is authorized without his prior consent.
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In such cases, it would be a crime for the individual to refuse to provide an access code if the phone is required to examine.
Also read what to do if it is arrested in France
However, the Court of Justice of the European Union established that the judicial authority must demonstrate that it is acting in the “public interest” when carrying out said search when testing “the link between the owner of the mobile phone and the necessity data”, “by data”, by data data, “by Datacontatata,” by Dataconcatadata “by Datacatatdata” by Datacataating Data, for the investigation. For research.
The data that can lead to the search for a smartphone includes location, photographs or videos, navigation history, but also the content of communications, including stored messages.
However, the police should not access the related “personal” data, in particular, to the racial or ethnic origin, or political and religious opinions.
According to the recaillea proposal, such searches would make it possible to find out “where nationals (springs), Illegal immigrants or foreigners who remain illegally come ”, examining the messages sent by smugglers in France and abroad.
Read also explained: What are your legal rights as a foreigner in France?
Although each country is free to impose its own limits, the European Union Court of Justice is never that the national authorities must respect “the principle of proportionality”, hence the need to supervise an independent court.
You can also ask you to turn on your mobile phone or computer at a border control point, or by security officials at an airport.
The “Français des Bolchenes” code also allows customs officers “Inspect goods and means of transport and people“What has interpreted the long bee as including mobile phones and laptops.
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