On Tuesday 18 February, the Council of the EU authorised the European Commission to negotiate a Passenger Name Record (PNR) agreement with Japan for the transfer of air passenger data between the EU and Japan.
The EU already has agreements of this type with the US and Australia and is in the process of finalising its new agreement with Canada after a first draft was ruled invalid by the European Court of Justice in 2016.
A spokesperson for the Commissioner for Home Affairs stated that the mandate given to the Commission does not yet specify the length of time for which personal data will be retained, as this will be decided during the negotiations with Japan.
In September, Jean-Claude Juncker, the former President of the European Commission, advised beginning these negotiations (see EUROPE 12337/19). PNR agreements are part of the measures to prevent terrorism and serious crime. They allow the airlines in the trading blocs involved to pass on their customers' personal information to the police before a flight takes off. The EU has a similar instrument through the European PNR Directive for internal purposes. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)