Brussels, 19/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 19 May, Coreper, the committee of member states' permanent representatives to the EU, discussed the draft agreement reached over the last few weeks by the Commission and Australia on the transfer of passenger information as part of the fight against crime and terrorism (PNR). The Commission is also renegotiating with the United States and Canada. All three programmes will be put to the European Parliament. Member states held an initial exchange of views on this draft which, in line with the mandates given by the Council in December of last year, specify the length of time information on European passengers can be retained (five and a half years up until now), the objectives of use of the information and methods of appeal open to European citizens. So far, the text has been rather well received, a source says, though it has raised a number of comments on both substance (how long the information can be kept) and style. Member states will try to come to a decision on this draft for the month of June, the source went on, but September may be a more probable date for a decision on signing the agreement.
It is expected that negotiations with the United States will be more difficult than those with Australia, which already has data protection mechanisms and monitoring systems that are more in line with the EU's, the source said. On Monday 16 May, the Commission finalised its negotiations with the United States and submitted a provisional draft for the approval of the Council and Parliament. Without giving further details, Commissioner Cecilia Malmström's department says that this draft provides greater protection than the agreement in place since 2007: the length of time information can be retained (which currently can be up to 15 years) has been reduced and the guarantee to make passengers' personal data more quickly “anonymous” has been put into effect, for example. The criteria for using the information for the purposes of tackling terrorism and crime have also been more closely detailed, said a spokeswoman for Malmström, who has spoken of a real “improvement” on 2007.
Under the terms of the Council mandate, the Commission must meet a series of criteria with each of the three countries, including: - the agreements have to comply with the law on personal data protection in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, a right of access, rectification and erasure of information, an appeal mechanism for Europeans and a short as possible a period of time for the retention of information with erasure at the end of this period. (S.P./transl.rt)