The use of genetic data in the era of Big Data: Evolution and future trajectories from Europol’s perspective

Abstract

The present study analyzes the role of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) in the management and processing of genetic data for combating organized crime and terrorism, supported by big data techniques. It begins by highlighting how Europol's Information Technology (IT) environment has evolved since its establishment in 2001, a key moment when the Europol Information System (EIS) and the Secure Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA) were developed. The 2016/794 Regulation allows this Agency to process information collected (in)directly from various sources for specific purposes, respecting the principles of data retention limitation and data minimization. However, the challenge posed by big data, as pointed out by the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), demonstrated how the limitations imposed on Europol to ensure the protection of personal data processed in its environment hindered the analysis of large, complex data sets (or big data). Consequently, Europol's mandate has been revised, and, although it has gone unnoticed, Article 30 of the amended 2022/991 Regulation removes the prohibition on processing special categories of personal data. Among these categories, genetic data stand out. Forensic genetics is benefiting from the technological revolution driven by big data, especially through the study of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP), which accelerates phenotype analysis from non-coding deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The proposed study highlights that Article 33 bis of the Europol Regulation empowers the Agency to process genetic data for research and innovation purposes. Specifically, it argues that Article 33 bis of the Europol Regulation supports the experimentation of big data-based machine learning from DNA profiles, beyond the identification of questioned and known samples developed by the Agency since its inception.