Brussels, 01/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - The United States is “impatiently” awaiting the proposal to be made this Wednesday 2 February by Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström on setting in place a PNR (Passenger Name Records) programme within the European Union (EUROPE 10304). At a meeting with the press on Tuesday 1 February, she reiterated the real added value “for the governments” of having a system whereby the airlines provide the national authorities with data entered by passengers when they make their booking, which are then processed to fight terrorism and organised crime.
The United States have already had a PNR programme in place with the EU since 2007, which the two parties are currently renegotiating. Amongst other things, this system allows the United States to obtain data on passengers travelling to or from the EU. The EU also has agreements of this type in place with Canada and Australia, but currently has no similar programme for itself.
For the United States, therefore, the Commission's proposal is most welcome, because “more and more countries are using the PNR”, said a representative of the American Department of Homeland Security, adding that the US was also hoping “to conclude as quickly as possible” the renegotiation of the EU-USA agreement of 2007. In May 2010, the EP made use of its suspensive vote to force the Commission to negotiate a new agreement which is more in line with European data protection standards, particularly as regards the plank on the length of time for which these data can be kept. On Tuesday, however, the United States qualified these concerns, calling for more “pedagogy” to be shown to the EP as regards the foundation of the PNR and its actual purposes, as “the most sensitive passenger data have never been used, or only in cases of great emergency”, said the representative. She went on to point out that in 2009, “one third of all refused admissions onto American soil due to suspicions of terrorism” were to be credited to the PNR system. (S.P./transl.fl)