Brussels, 23/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - The organisations responsible for protecting privacy in the Member States continue to believe that the agreement between the EU and the United States on storage of aircraft passengers' personal details is a bad thing. Nonetheless, since the Council and the Commission have approved the agreement, "we must go beyond criticism and adjust to the circumstances", Peter Schaar, the new president of the "Article 29 group" said on Wednesday. The group brings together the representatives of national organisations responsible for ensuring that the directive on protecting privacy and personal data is respected.
The group adopted on Tuesday recommendations aimed at attenuating the damage done by the agreement. To begin with, experts call for the European Commission to put pressure on airline companies so that they set a system in place as quickly as possible to filter data transferred to the US authorities. For the time being, the US Security Department can examine information directly in the files kept by these companies according to a "pull" system, and must then delete the data that it undertakes not to use, as, for example, the menu chosen by passengers. Such a detail could show the religion of passengers.
"Passengers must be correctly informed about data transfer", and be informed in a standardised way whatever airline companies are used, experts say. "We shall present proposals to the European Commission and to the companies", Peter Schaar said. Airline companies and travel agencies should inform their customers before reservations are made and not at the moment of departure, he specified.
The guardians of privacy also wish to ensure that companies will not be compelled to give information other than that which they require for their commercial transactions. Already the members of the group have doubts about the 34 details that can be collected under the agreement signed in Washington. The US authorities, for example, can collect the e-mail address and credit card number of a passenger. The former president of the group and Italian Commissioner for data protection, Stefano Rodotà, said that, if the providers of such services are in the United States, it is possible to have access through this information to all the banking transactions made by the passenger and to the passenger's e-mail correspondence.
The group also awaits information from the Commission on how it plans to ensure monitoring of implementation of the commitments taken by the United States in the agreement. They would "appreciate" being involved in the definition, the implementation and the assessment of such monitoring.
In the short term, the group has foreseen a meeting on 16 July in Rome with the representatives of airline companies, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the national bodies for protection of privacy. The meeting will be held in the offices of Stefano Rodotà. The aim is to give a clear and detailed idea of the practical stages required for data transfer.
The group has worked together with MEPs, who were opposed to the agreement being signed with Washington. For the time being, the president of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, took time to reflect before calling on the Court of Justice for an opinion on how valid such an agreement was, as requested last week by the EP Committee on Legal Affairs (see EUROPE of 17 June, p.12). Pending the effective request and response, the aim of the Article 29 group is to "reduce the impact of the Council and Commission decision", Stefano Rodotà commented.