the “yes but” of the CNIL in the face of a “strong” attack on freedoms

The Cnil is not opposed to the extension of the health pass planned by the government, but asks Parliament to “circumscribe” the new device which is a “particularly strong” attack on freedoms, warned the president of the Cnil Marie -Laure Denis this Wednesday evening during a hearing in the Senate.

This attack “can only be accepted if the State can demonstrate that the surplus efficiency brought by the health pass (…) appears necessary”, indicated Marie-Laure Denis, who proposed to parliamentarians a certain number. clarifications or adjustments to the text. “If this were the case, I am not saying that we must not act, but I would invite you to find, through the words by which the law would describe the conditions and modalities of such a health pass, the means of circumscribing the decision that you will take to the completely exceptional nature of the circumstances “, she explained, according to the text of her intervention communicated to AFP by the Cnil.

The Cnil did not have to legally give its opinion on the bill extending the health pass, which began to be examined by deputies on Wednesday. But the Senate Law Committee had asked its president to come and speak to it, behind closed doors.

In her intervention, she suggested a number of clarifications, withdrawals or modifications to the text. Thus, for example, the control of the identity of the person presenting a health pass is a subject “eminently sensitive” which justifies that the law “specifies the modalities”, she noted.

Whether or not the tests are free

The CNIL also wants the places for which the pass will be made compulsory to be clearly specified by law. The free nature of the tests, or not, will be an element to be taken into account in the definition of these places, warned Marie-Laure Denis. “The possibility of accessing certain places or means of transport without being vaccinated will not be at all the same depending on whether the tests will be free or expensive,” she underlines. Regarding restaurants, “it is possible to wonder about the relevance of imposing the health pass to go to lunch on the terrace,” she asks. “Should we maintain the system of reminder book (digital and paper) in restaurants if they are subject to the health pass?”, Also asks the president of the CNIL.

Likewise, the law should ensure that employers only keep information relating to the employee’s “vaccination status” after verification, and not proof of vaccination – which “reveals more information”. “Is it proportionate” to include the youngest minors in the device “even though it is they who are the least likely to develop a serious form of the disease?”, She also asks.

The president of the CNIL also recommends that parliamentarians force the government to provide an evaluation of the effectiveness of the “various digital devices” put in place by the government to fight the pandemic. “This is becoming a pressing need,” she said, proposing that the law provide for “the principle of a rigorous and scientific evaluation, by the fall or at the latest by the end of the year, of these different files and devices.