The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party, convening in Barcelona, Catalonia on 19^th and 20^th November 2009:

-         Recognising that everyone has the right of freedom of expression and free communication, which includes the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers, and respect for their private life, their home and their correspondence, as protected by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as adopted by all members of the Council of Europe;

-         Recalls that in the determination of their civil rights and obligations, or of any criminal charge against them, everyone is entitled to be presumed innocent until proven guilty by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law, acting in due process of a fair trial;

-         Notes in the current state of the means of communication and given the generalised development of public online communication services, and the importance of the latter for the practical participation in democracy and expression of ideas and opinions, that the right of freedom of expression and free communication implies freedom to access such services;

-         Recognising that the continuing development of Information Technology and growing use of the Internet as a means of communication, entertainment, political debate and filling important functions for society, often strain the existing framework of laws and regulations, both of the European Union and of the member states;

-         Notes with concern that states around the world for political reasons are limiting their citizens’ access to free communication, and that citizens exercising their right of freedom of expression online are being deprived of this right;

-         Stresses that there shall be no restrictions on the exercise of these freedoms, except such as are proportionate, prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, notably in the interests of national security, public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of the reputation or the rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary;

-         Firmly believes that any monitoring and storage of citizens’ communication by civil and public authorities must be laid down by law after independent judicial supervision in each case in line with respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, in particular in relation to a strict limitation of the invasion of privacy;

-         Notes with deep concern the importance of finding instruments to estimate and evaluate to what extent civil and public authorities should be given the right to collect and deal with information concerning the communication and correspondence of the citizen;

-         Resolves to protect and uphold the rights of the citizen, as affirmed in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, in all matters of legislation;

Calls upon:

-         Its member parties to review existing and proposed laws, regarding the citizen’s rights to freedom of expression and free communication as well as monitoring and storage of such communication, according to the principles of proportionality, necessity and transparency;

-         Its member parties to abolish the data retention directive (Directive 2006/24/EC) which forces member states to store the communication data of all EU citizens for at least six months;

-         Its member parties to strictly limit and control the extent to which the citizen’s right to free communication is restricted, as well as the purposes for which retained data may be provided to law enforcement authorities;

-         The European Parliament as well as the European Commission to closely monitor the level of media freedom inside the EU as well as to encourage framework conditions for a pluralistic media landscape;

-         Its member parties to incorporate into their political work respect for the citizen’s rights to freedom of expression, free communication, privacy and the inviolable right to a fair trial at every political level in order to create a liberal and open society.