Brussels, 22/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - Peter Hustinx, EU Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), recently expressed criticism of the European passenger name record (PNR) strategy and voiced objection to any form of profiling. On 21 September, the European Commission adopted several proposals relating to the exchange of PNR with third countries, including an external strategy (see EUROPE 10219). Although Hustinx supports the Commission's horizontal approach, he nonetheless feels that “to be admissible, the conditions for collection and processing of PNR data should be considerably restricted”. He states in a press release of 19 October that he is “particularly concerned about the use of PNR schemes for risk assessment or profiling”, saying that more explicit guarantees and justifications are needed for the use of PNR data relating to all passengers for the purposes of risk assessment. He nonetheless underlines the need to ensure coherence between the various initiatives linked to the processing of PNR, including the European general framework for data protection currently under revision, the initiative aimed at setting up a European PNR system, and negotiations underway for an EU-US framework agreement on data protection. As regards the content of proposed data protection standards, the EDPS calls for more precision with regards to the minimal safeguards applicable to all PNR agreements. Stricter conditions should apply, Hustinx believes, in particular to the processing of sensitive data, the conditions of onward transfers and the retention of data. The EDPS finally underlines the need for any PNR agreement to explicitly provide for directly enforceable rights to individuals concerned. (B.C./transl.jl)