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Road Safety Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 44:"Page 50, line 1, leave out from ““territory”” to end of line 4 and insert ““that has ratified the Treaty on European Vehicle and Driving Licence Information System (EUCARIS)””" The noble Lord said: My Lords, as noble Lords will recall from Committee, this clause is designed to enable the DVLA and its Northern Irish counterpart to disclose certain licensing and registration information to foreign authorities, ostensibly for the purposes of ratifying the EUCARIS treaty. That is a worthy end to which we have no objection—a fact reflected in the design of these amendments to enable ratification of the EUCARIS treaty. I am sure that we all agree that we want to do our utmost to support genuine measures to prevent and punish vehicle crime. However, that desire is tempered by our paramount concern for the protection of the British driver against misuse of valuable personal information by a foreign body. There were several reports last weekend, which noble Lords may have seen, about the potential selling of information about individuals by the DVLA, not necessarily to other countries but to other consortiums—perhaps crime consortiums, and so on. That is a worrying issue on which the Minister may like to comment. These amendments are designed to restrict the disclosure of information exclusively within the nexus of the EUCARIS treaty. When I asked the noble Baroness, Lady Crawley, in Committee about the necessity of making the power so extensive as to include any country or territory outside the United Kingdom—be it north Vietnam, or anywhere else—she replied that the Government,"““do not want to preclude the ability to exchange outside the EU in the future””.—[Official Report, 26/10/05; cols. 1201-2.]" However, in citing the examples of Japan and the USA, she mentioned that the USA has already shown some interest in EUCARIS. Am I correct in taking her reference to mean that the extension of the disclosure of licensing and registration information can be facilitated with non-European Union countries through the mechanism of the existing EUCARIS treaty? If that is the case, and in the light of the fact that the Minister has already assured the House that EUCARIS enshrines the principles of the Data Protection Act, it would seem eminently sensible to progress any extension of disclosure to other nations in this way, thereby utilising the benefits already inherent in the existence of the EUCARIS treaty, rather than renegotiating incessantly on a bilateral basis each time. In Committee I drew attention to the fact that very few countries have actually signed the treaty. In her answer, the noble Baroness, Lady Crawley, claimed at col. 1202 that"““the EU Commission is looking at using the EUCARIS system as the technical solution for exchanging information between all EU countries””." I take this as further evidence of the versatility and broad possibilities of this treaty, qualities that seem to make it a most suitable mechanism and vehicle for the purposes of exchanging licensing and registration information with foreign authorities, and obviating the need for alarmingly loose provision. The original wording,"““to make available to any country or territory outside of the United Kingdom””," is totally less than satisfactory. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s comments, and in particular any information he may share about the development of the EUCARIS treaty. I only hope he can provide these answers to your Lordships’ House, since the last letter I was promised seemed to get lost in the post. I beg to move.