Brussels, 01/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 31 August, the German Ministry of the Interior announced that, for the time being, it did not want body scanners to be used in German airports, AFP reports, further to a testing period carried out in Hamburg. A ministry press release states that the home minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, had decided, on the basis of test results, not to install body scanners in airports for now. The release goes on to say that discussion would be continued on perfecting equipment that not only allows high security objectives to be met but also takes into account the conditions for passenger welcome.
Some 809,000 passengers had been controlled during the testing phase between the end of September 2010 and the end of the month of July. The current generation of body scanners, explained the Ministry, is not yet sufficiently perfected for generalised use. At the end of July, a report from the German police had set out severe criticism of the scanners installed in Hamburg, noting, as AFP explains, that the rate of false alarms currently reaches 70% and must be reduced.
The question of using body scanners in airports is closely followed by MEPs who are very careful to ensure protection of privacy. In a report adopted on 6 July, the EP had, however, suggested authorising body scanners for passenger screening in airports, within a strict framework of conditions of use. The report thus suggested ruling out the use of technology emitting ionising radiation and banning any body image of persons being screened from being visualised or retained. (S.P./transl.jl)