Brussels, 04/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - Australia hopes to conclude an agreement with the European Union very quickly on the sharing of air transport passenger data - the “Passenger Name Record” (PNR). With a view to this, the European Commission intends to present a negotiation mandate to the Council in the very near future. An agreement of this type was concluded at the end of July between the EU and the United States as part of the fight against terrorism, but it was not without criticism from the European Parliament (EUROPE 9478, 9467 and 9457).
Since early in 2004, talks have been held between the EU and its Australian counterpart with a view to negotiating this type of agreement. However, the Europeans wanted to conclude a stable agreement with the United States first of all, so that negotiations could then be opened with other countries. Canberra, however, is forcing the pace, as it hopes to be able to finalise an agreement very soon. “We would like to start real negotiations as soon as possible (…) and conclude them by the end of the year”, an Australian diplomatic source told EUROPE. The Australian government is in a particular hurry to conclude an agreement, as the Australian national airline, Qantas, intends to bring in a new departure control system early next year, which is designed to manage registrations, boarding and baggage (Amadeus Altéa Customer Management Platform).
The agreement which Australia hopes to negotiate with the EU is “no different” to that concluded with the United States, this same source continued. The data will first of all be collected by the Australian authorities for purposes strictly related to fighting against or preventing threats to the security or integrity of the borders, terrorism and related crimes, and to other serious crimes of a cross-border nature. Australia would like to be able to make a number of data types available to its customs services, these data types being fairly similar to those to which the American Department of State for Homeland Security has access; 19 types of data in all, including data of a sensitive nature (racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, etc). The period of time for which Australia would like these data to be held would be “a few years”, but not indefinitely. In the EU-USA agreement, a duration of 15 years was agreed upon, although the United States reserved the right to renegotiate this issue in the future. On the protection of data a personal nature, Australia has a federal law of 1988 on privacy (Privacy Act 1988), which lists no fewer than 11 principles to be respected by governments and public service mission bodies when they collect, store, use or divulge these personal data. On the point of view of the confidentiality of these data, this legislation is sufficiently “solid” and, to a certain extent, “more acceptable” than the one in place in the United States, according to the diplomat.
The European Commission is planning to table its mandate proposal to the Council around mid-October, whereupon the Council will task the Portuguese presidency with carrying out negotiations on behalf of the EU, no doubt assisted in this by the Commission. The Council must rule unanimously, because the agreement falls within the field of police and judicial cooperation. “We are not in a position to say when we hope to conclude an agreement”, stressed an internal European Commission source, which added that, unlike the situation with the United States, no time limit had been set in place. “The Australians want an agreement as soon as possible, but at the moment, we have no idea of the level of difficulty of the future negotiations. All rounds of negotiation have their own dynamics, even when a cut-off date has been set”, this source concluded. (bc)