WRITTEN QUESTION E-2899/00

by Paul Rübig (PPE-DE) to the Council

(13 September 2000)

Subject: Theft of computers

It was reported on page 110 of the magazine EURO am Sonntag of 16 July 2000 that:

200 computers have disappeared from the Council building in Brussels. The magazine goes on to quote Reuters news agency, according to which the security service is frustrated

because security staff are not allowed to check diplomats' cars, even though some of those involved were transporting the stolen goods openly on the passenger seat.

Is the Council aware of the fact that more than 200 computers have been stolen from its building?

What will the Council do to put a stop to such incidents?

Will the Council allow the security service to check diplomats in future in order to cut theft?

Should the Council not demand better protection for the institutions on the part of the Belgian executive?

Reply

(10 July 2001)

The Council takes note of the question put by the Honourable Member and would remind him that it is not in the habit of commenting on the content of articles appearing in the press. Nevertheless, as part of the procedures for keeping a physical inventory of data-processing equipment within the General Secretariat of the Council, it has been discovered that a number of PCs (50) are no longer to be found at the physical locations indicated in the database used for administrative management of the inventory.

On the basis of the information available, particularly reports of disappearances of PCs, this situation is not, in most of the cases, the result of systematic theft. Nor is there any reason to believe that diplomats have been involved in the disappearance of these PCs. Moreover, the administrative value of the missing equipment, a large proportion of which has had a service life which could give rise to decommissioning, represents about 14 000, which is of a similar level to that obtaining in public or private organisations of a comparable size.

The Council would further point out that it is for the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-General, under the Council's responsibility, to take all the measures necessary to ensure the smooth operation of the General Secretariat of the Council.

To that end, the General Secretariat of the Council has, among other things, initiated a process to ensure more effective management of its data-processing equipment in order to limit as far as possible, by means of organisational measures and intensified checks, the risk of disappearance of such equipment.

Various measures have already been taken or are being planned, including, in particular:

- definition of new organisational structures within the Department responsible for information technology and of procedures making it possible to follow more closely and systematically the lifecycle of computer equipment from acquisition (purchase/leasing) to decommissioning. It will thus be possible constantly to obtain precise information on the physical location of the equipment concerned;

- implementation of both preventive and reactive security measures concerning regular checks and targeted investigations.

Moreover, the new inventory software (ELS), which will be fully operational in 2001, will make searches easier and inventory-taking more frequent.