This doctoral thesis explores how personal data is processed in the context of interoperable information systems in the area of freedom, security and justice, and how this impacts the right to the protection of personal data. First, the thesis outlines the concept of interoperability as it has developed in different policy areas in the EU. Second, it examines information exchange in the area of freedom, security and justice from intergovernmental cooperation between the EU Member States to the development of large centralised information systems and their interoperability. Third, the thesis provides an overview of the development of data protection law, focusing predominantly on data protection regime in the area of freedom, security and justice. The thesis then presents the legislative framework for the protection of personal data in the EU. In the fourth part, the thesis deals with information systems in the area of freedom, security and justice. It analyses their technical structure, objectives, the scope of collected personal data, authorities that can access the data (with a particular focus on law enforcement authorities), and their data protection frameworks. The thesis addresses interoperability from three perspectives: it describes and analyses the changes in information exchange brought about by interoperability, examines the sui generis data protection regime for interoperability and compares it with the general framework for the protection of personal data in the EU to examine their coherences and divergences and explores whether the processing of data in the context of interoperability constitutes a permissible interference with the right to the protection of personal data. The thesis concludes by positioning interoperability as a form of biometric surveillance of mobility among other contemporary surveillance practices and looks toward the future of personal data collection in the EU.
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