Amendment 173· Digital Omnibus proposal Recital 20

Wordingagainst the Commission’s

(20) The concept of ‘public security’, within the meaning of Article 52 TFEU and as interpreted by the Court of Justice, covers both the internal and external security of a Member State, as well as issues of public safety, in order, in particular, to facilitate the investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences. It presupposes the existence of a genuine and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society, such as a threat to the functioning of institutions and essential public services and the survival of the population, as well as the risk of a serious disturbance to foreign relations or the peaceful coexistence of nations, or a risk to military interests. In compliance with the principle of proportionality, data localisation requirements that are justified on grounds of public security should be suitable for attaining the objective pursued, and should not go beyond what is necessary to attain that objective. Therefore, Member States may not impose data localisation requirements in a generalised or preventive manner, but only insofar as they are justified by an essential public interest and accompanied by appropriate safeguards against any unjustified restrictions of the free movement of data within the European Union. Any measure of this kind must be necessary, proportionate, non-discriminatory, subject to judicial review, and compatible with Union law, including the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Treaties. In this context, Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 aims to prevent misuse of data localisation requirements as barriers to the internal market, while also promoting the free movement of data and cross-border access to them. Exceptions based on grounds of public safety must be interpreted restrictively and applied only in exceptional situations where the competent authorities can demonstrate a genuine and sufficiently serious risk to a fundamental interest of society. The Regulation thus seeks to strike a balance between protecting the essential interests of Member States and developing a single European data market based on trust, interoperability and legal certainty.

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