The impact of an expanding EU criminal law with a close examination of its impact on the privacy rights of EU citizens

The European Union does not have an overarching body of criminal laws that defines conduct concretely and consistently throughout all of the 27 Member States. Instead, each of the Member States retains the power over their own criminal law systems, and applies Community law only on certain occasions when the EU legislates on specific criminal matters. For example, the EU’s attempt to fight terrorism and organized crime has resulted in Community legislation that requires the use Community-wide databases that gather, analyze, and share personal information on some EU citizens. The lack of an overarching penal system codifying legal definitions throughout the Community, along with the widely variant criminal law traditions of each Member State, results in the potential for EU citizens to be treated differently under Community law. This is specifically a threat in light of the use of databases, as Member States use them differently, resulting in unequal conditions and an unequal guarantee of the EU citizens' Right to Privacy as defined by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights