Belgium’s Parliament has approved a bill exempting the Public Service Committee from requiring an authorisation from the Interior Minister to access data contained in the National Register and related documents.
The text, which was tabled by Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden’s Christen Democratisch & Vlaams (CD&V) party and co-signed by the other parties in the ruling majority, was approved unanimously on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.
As a result, the Committee - which exercises external oversight over the Belgian police - will no longer require an authorisation from the Minister to access data from the National Register, waiting register, population registers, immigrants’ register, identity card register and the foreign residence card register.
Until now, the police oversight body had to apply for permission to access such data, while the police services did not. The text was adopted unanimously.
