Brussels, 02/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - The EU wants to conclude an international framework agreement with the USA in 2009 regulating personal data protection in the context of the fight against terrorism, even if there are difficult questions yet to be resolved, a high-level official from the European Commission indicated on Wednesday 2 July. “If things go well, we can envisage arriving at a binding international agreement in 2009”, said Jonathan Faull, Director General of the European Commission's Justice, Freedom and Security services. The two parties have done “70 -80 %” of the work to reach a point which will enable them to begin formal discussions, said Mr Faull, thereby playing down the revelations made last week in the New York Times stating that the Europeans and Americans were on the verge of concluding an agreement.
A high-level EU-US group on data protection was created at the end of 2006, tasked with coming up with principles common to the two parties concerning data protection in the area of police and judicial cooperation. At the summit on 10 June both Europe and America committed to moving towards the conclusion of a binding international agreement which would serve once and for all as a framework for the exchange of personal data between the two continents. (EUROPE 9679).
For the moment the negotiators for the two parties have managed to agree on 12 principles. These include the refusal to transmit any data concerning health, sex life, political or religious beliefs and membership of a trade union where national legislation provides the appropriate protection of this data. On this point, Mr Faull cited the case of a diabetic person who informs the airline of this fact for the purposes of their in-flight meal. “If the Americans are looking for a terrorist whom they know is diabetic and is planning to travel by plane from point A to point B in a given period, they might ask for a list of passengers who have requested a diabetic meal. But this data should not be stored or transmitted” to third parties, he explained. The two parties have also agreed on an independent data controller to ensure that data is provided for a precise reason and for a limited period, but also so that a person has a right to correct data in case of error. But there are still “five points on which we have not reached an agreement”, Mr Faull said. Firstly, he said, “we want non-discriminatory treatment for European citizens before American courts. For the moment their rights are not the same”. The European negotiators also want to make sure that the obligations of private entities are certified legally during the transfer of data and that the third countries to which the US transmits data initially transmitted from the EU have adequate data protection in place. The latter two principles are linked to specific agreements governing the exchange of information and protection of personal data, as well as institutional issues. Mr Faull hoped that these difficulties could be ironed out in 2008, before the Commission asks for a negotiating mandate from the Council of the EU. “If we reach an agreement it will not be a blank cheque for the transfer of data from the EU to the USA”, he concluded. (B.C./transl.fl)