The Police and Criminal Justice Data Protection Directive: Comment and Analysis

What is the current legal data protection framework for Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) personal data processing and what framework could be created in the near future? These two questions are constantly recurring in the EU data protection field, particularly after the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.
The amendment of the EU data protection regulatory framework currently under way offers a unique opportunity to re-evaluate past regulatory options and plan for the future.
A long consultation period led to the, simultaneous, release by the Commission of two draft instruments: the General Data Protection Regulation, intended to replace the 1995 Directive, and the Police and Criminal Justice Data Protection Directive, intended to replace the 2008 Framework Decision. In this way, the Commission made a choice among the lawmaking options at hand, and introduced again two sectorspecific instruments rather than one of general application, broadly following the older Pillar distinction.