Committee of Inquiry to investigate the use of the Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (PEGA) - Main contents

This committee will conduct an inquiry into alleged breaches of EU law in the use of the surveillance software by, among others, Hungary and Poland. The committee is going to look into existing national laws regulating surveillance, and whether Pegasus spyware was used for political purposes against, for example, journalists, politicians and lawyers.

This Committee has a twelve-month mandate. Parliament can decide to extend the mandate. The Committee will have 38 members.

The Committee will focus on suspected breaches of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and regulation with regard to personal data and the protection of privacy, in particular those concerning:

• 1. 

  articles 7, 8, 11, 21 and 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, that recognise specific rights and principles such as respect for the protection of personal data and freedom of expression

• 2. 

  directive 2002/58/EC concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector

• 3. 

  regulation 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data

• 4. 

  directive 2016/680 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities