“Technology can guide governments in navigating their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic,” says FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty. “However, like all solutions, governments need to take care that respect for fundamental rights forms part of our public health strategies. This includes maintaining privacy and data protection legal safeguards.”

This second Coronavirus pandemic in the EU: fundamental rights implications report looks at the measures EU Member States use to address the pandemic to highlight rights-respectful approaches that other Member States can learn from.

It underlines the need to carefully and regularly assess the impact on people’s fundamental rights as governments manage the pandemic:

1. Users’ data, their privacy, data protection and other rights: ...Governments are also rolling out the development of contact-tracing apps to curb the spread of the virus...

- Governments should ensure they implement all fundamental rights’ legal safeguards when protecting health...

2. States of emergency: ...

- Governments should carefully assess the fundamental rights impact of emergency measures when limiting and enforcing freedom of movement and assembly.

3. Daily life: All EU governments maintained physical and social distancing measures. This had a wide-ranging impact on fundamental rights, such as the rights to freedom of movement and of assembly...

- Governments should find ways to offset existing inequalities...

4. Vulnerable groups...