A small proportion of intra-European communications are routed via a switch in London to which, since foreign communications are involved, the British monitoring station GCHQ has access. The majority of communications do not leave the continent: for example, more than 95% of intra-German Internet communications are routed via a switch in Frankfurt.

In practical terms, this means that the UKUSA states have access only to a very limited proportion of Internet communications transmitted by cable. (…)

MINORITY OPINION by Giuseppe Di Lello, Pernille Frahm and Alain Krivine

The report by the Temporary Committee confirms the existence of the Echelon interception system which is administered by various countries, including the United Kingdom, a Member State of the European Union, with the cooperation of Germany.