20/01/2020 (Agence Europe) – A local German court based in Cologne decided on Monday 20 January to ask the EU Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling on the European PNR directive, which entered into force in 2016 and aims to collect air passenger data in the EU for the purpose of combating terrorism. Several German NGOs are challenging the German government’s transposition of the Directive and had in the past already pointed to problems with the excessive amount of data collected in relation to the cases ultimately investigated (see EUROPE 12254/9). The questions addressed by the Cologne court at this point concern a complaint concerning data collection carried out by Lufthansa, according to Freiheitrechte, one of the organisations at the origin of the proceedings. (SP)