Oversight framework of intelligence services
8.2. Diversity of actors
The vast majority of specialised parliamentary
committees have an ex post say on the effectiveness
of budget allocations. Germany, exceptionally, has
a separate parliamentary committee in charge of the
budget – the Trust Panel (Vertrauensgremium), which
decides intelligence services’ budget and on investment
in surveillance technologies. Three Trust Panel members
participate in the meetings of the PKGr and three of the
members of the PKGr participate in the deliberations of
the Trust Panel.237 The French parliamentary oversight
body DPR oversees the expenses of the intelligence
services through an annual report prepared by the
national intelligence and fight against terrorism
coordinator (coordonnateur national du renseignement
et de la lutte contre le terrorisme)238 and through the
annual report by the Audit Commission on special funds
(Commission de vérification des fonds spéciaux), which
is composed of four members of the DPR.239
UN standards for oversight bodies
“(E)stablish or maintain existing independent, effective,
adequately resourced and impartial judicial, administrative and/or parliamentary domestic oversight mechanisms
capable of ensuring transparency, as appropriate, and accountability for State surveillance of communications,
their interception and the collection of personal data.”
UN, GA (2016a), Resolutions on the right to privacy in the digital age,
21 November 2016, para. 5(d)
The following sections introduce the main actors who
contribute to the oversight of intelligence services and
their accountability (Figure 5): parliaments; expert bodies;
and several actors that perform important watchdog
functions in democratic societies: media, ombuds
institutions, national human rights institutions, civil society
organisations and whistleblowers. (Data protection
authorities, which are treated as a type of expert body
for purposes of this report, are discussed in Section 9.2.)
Figure 5: Intelligence services’ accountability scheme
The Public
Whistleblowers
Parliamentary
oversight
Executive
control
ECtHR &
International
organisations
Intelligence
services
Judicial
Oversight
Expert
Bodies
The Media
Source:
Oversight entities
Oversee intelligence
services, and where
competent, take
legally binding
decisions
Civil Society
Organisations
(CSO)
Watchdogs
Observe intelligence
services, and where
relevant, inform
actors of the
oversight circle
FRA, 2017
237 Germany, Federal Budget Order (Bundeshaushaltsordnung),
19 August 1969, as amended, s. 10 (a); and Germany,
Parliamentary Control Panel Act (Kontrollgremiumgesetz),
29 July 2009, s. 9. See also de With, H. and Kathmann, E.,
Policy Department C: Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional
Affairs (2011), p. 225.
238 France, Adam, P., Parliamentary Delegation on
Intelligence (2017), p. 22.
239 Ibid. p. 83.
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