Brussels, 12/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission gave its response on Wednesday 11 March to the request made by the European Parliament on 11 February in its resolution on terrorism to assess the impact of the Court of Justice ruling on the retention of telephone data of 8 April 2014 on the proposal for a European PNR (passenger name records) system. The Commission concluded that the proposal for a directive, which the Parliament civil liberties committee threw out in April 2013 before agreeing at the end of February to put back on its agenda, was valid.
In 2014, the Court annulled the 2006 retention of telecoms data directive on the grounds that it was disproportionate and that it breached fundamental rights. However, in their letter to MEPs, Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, who is responsible for this matter, were careful to disassociate the two texts and indicated that the European PNR directive presented in February 2011 related to data that were, in a way, a little less personal. “The collection of PNR from a person that takes an international flight - and is therefore already registered for border control purposes reveals, in principle, less about that person's privacy than having his or her phone calls or internet connections registered”, they say. Some MEPs, especially those belonging to the S&D and ALDE Groups, have made their approval of the European PNR conditional on the Commission's arguments.
The PNR system, the two commissioners argue, only concerns a more narrow set of persons, and is therefore less indiscriminate than data retention. Unlike the data retention directive, the processing of PNR data does not risk interfering with any obligation of professional secrecy. In line with point 61 of the judgment, the proposed EU PNR directive contains substantive and procedural safeguards relating to the access and subsequent use of the data retained, they go on to say. PNR data will be collected, stored and analysed “only by a specifically created entity, the Passenger Information Unit, and the results of the PNR processing will be transferred to law enforcement authorities only under strict conditions”.
The differences between PNR and data retention must be taken into account in legal assessment of the future European PNR system, they argue. The EU legislator will have to ensure that the choices made with regard to the scope of the EU PNR system are fully justified and that the necessary safeguards are in place to guarantee the legality of all storage, analysis, transfer and use of PNR data, they say.
In conclusion, the Commission is of the view that a directive on the use of EU PNR data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious transnational crime may be interpreted in a way that complies with the legal requirements of the Charter of Fundamental Rights while offering a new and effective tool at EU level to address such offences. The Commission is ready to work constructively with the legislators. The rapporteur on the European PNR, Timothy Kirkhope (ECR, UK), hailed the Commission's letter as clear and unequivocal. He said that there had been a lot of confusion about the impact that the Court ruling could have on the EU PNR. However, clarity had now been brought on that decision, making it possible to press on with putting a PNR system in place, he noted. The other groups had given no official reaction on Thursday afternoon. (Solenn Paulic)