Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties held an exchange of views with the European Commission on Tuesday 8 November on how Member States will implement the EU Court of Justice judgment of 21 June limiting the scope of the EU Directive on the transfer of air passenger data (PNR), particularly on intra-EU flights.
In particular, the elected representatives expressed concern about current attempts by Member States to circumvent the requirements of this judgment (see EUROPE 12976/24). In June, the EU Court of Justice validated the existence of this EU Directive and found it compatible with the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
However, in this judgment, which was specifically aimed at Belgian legislation, the Court also considered that the Directive involves serious interference with these rights, insofar as it aims to establish continuous, untargeted and systematic surveillance of persons entering or leaving the EU by air.
Such a situation is justified if it is limited to what is strictly necessary and solely for the purpose of combating terrorism and serious crime, the Court ruled.
Asked to comment on the issue, the Commission acknowledged on Tuesday that the judgment poses “huge operational challenges” for Member States that have started to set up PNR processing units and that they need time to “assimilate” it. The Commission therefore does not intend, for the time being, to open infringement procedures against Member States whose provisions no longer comply with European law after this judgment, its representative said.
The Commission was also pleased that the Court had confirmed this tool, which has proved its “effectiveness” in the fight against terrorism and the prevention of threats of terrorism or serious crime, said Rob Rozenburg, who represented the institution. The Directive has, in his view, definitely proved its worth in strengthening the security of the EU.
He also confirmed to MEPs that the Commission has no plans to extend the PNR Directive to trains or ships and that Belgium, which is affected by the judgment, will “in principle no longer be able to maintain its current legislation”.
In July 2017, the League for Human Rights lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Court against the Belgian ‘PNR’ law adopted after the terrorist attacks of March 2016. However, the Belgian law goes beyond the framework of European law on the scope of the Directive, the duration of the retention of these data and the comparison of PNR data with other databases.
For Rob Rozenburg, in any case, the Member States are fully committed to the subject and are making significant progress in complying with the judgment, he argued, even if they are doing so at different rates. The Commission stands ready to support them in any case.
The Czech Presidency of the EU Council launched a reflection in September on how Member States can adapt to this judgment, which reduces the scope of the Directive for intra-EU flights.
In a note dated 26 October, they continued their reflections and maintained their wish to preserve collections on these internal flights.
Belgium has proposed the creation of a specific working group to continue to use these data in accordance with the Court’s judgment, in particular to allow for common risk analyses, “so that Member States can work together to justify the need to collect information for a large majority of intra-EU flights”.
Many delegations, such as Spain, found it difficult in this note to operate a selection of flights.
Link to the note: https://aeur.eu/f/3yl (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)