Brussels, 28/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 2 February, the European Commission is to put forward a proposed directive on the use of airline passengers' data (PNR) within the EU, with the aim of encouraging the member states to set in place architecture allowing them to exchange between themselves data on passengers travelling to or from third countries, as part of the fight against terrorism and organised crime. Readers may remember that PNR data consist of information provided by passengers and collected by travel companies during the reservations and booking-in procedures, such as travel dates and routes, information on tickets, addresses and telephone numbers and information regarding the payment.
So far, the Commission explained in a communication of 21 September 2010, the United Kingdom already has a PNR system which allows it to collect data on passengers from third countries or passengers flying to these countries from its territory. France and Denmark also already have systems of this kind, and with the prospect that other member states will follow, there should be a bit of consistency and harmonisation among the EU27, so as to ensure certain points relating to the protection of personal data. This consistency is particularly vital as the EU already has PNR agreements, in parallel, with the United States, Canada and Australia (these agreements are currently being renegotiated), which allow these three countries access to data on passengers from the EU held by European airlines.
Under the proposal to be put forward by Cecilia Malmström, the commissioner for home affairs, European airlines will have to send their national authorities the passenger dossiers on travellers (including European travellers) coming from or flying to third countries. The authorities will then go on to share these elements with the European authorities when requested to do so.
The Commission is also set to propose strict rules on the length of time for which these data can be kept and confidentiality, with the member states called upon to make these data anonymous after 30 days, or to do otherwise only in the event of criminal investigations against the passenger. But at this stage, a spokesperson to Malmström explains, the proposal is unlikely to have consequences on the agreements being negotiated by the EU with the US, Australia and Canada, which are less strict in terms of confidentiality. The agreement with the United States, in particular, was blocked by the European Parliament in May 2010 as the Americans had asked to be allowed to keep European data for up to 15 years. (S.P./transl.fl)