On Wednesday 6 September, the European Commission announced that it had proposed negotiations with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway with a view to reaching agreements on the transfer of passenger name record (PNR) data, according to a press release.
This will involve the transmission of data collected by airlines from the EU to the Swiss authorities so that they can assess the terrorist threat posed by individuals or the risk of serious crime.
Under the 2016 European directive establishing a PNR system for the EU, all airlines operating in the EU should already transmit this data to Member State authorities. The new agreements would formalise the data exchange in the opposite direction, enabling the authorities in these three countries to step up risk prevention too.
More specifically, the European Commission has adopted proposed recommendations to the Council of the EU to start negotiations with these three countries.
“The transfer of PNR data is essential to enable the authorities to step up the detection, prosecution and investigation of terrorist and serious criminal offences. The agreements will define the conditions for the transfer of PNR data to the authorities of these countries, in full compliance with data protection guarantees and fundamental rights”, said the Commission in a press release.
“Starting negotiations with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway on PNR data is an important step forward in strengthening security in the Schengen area”, it added.
The EU already has international agreements on PNR data with the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. However, its project with Canada, which was rejected by the Court of Justice of the EU in 2017, has not yet been finalised. It also plans to sign a similar agreement with Japan.
Links to the proposals for the three countries: https://aeur.eu/f/8gg; https://aeur.eu/f/8gh; https://aeur.eu/f/8gi. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)