Air passenger data deal: Capitulation to US pressure on access to PNR a blow to EU civil liberties

Commenting on the deal on the transfer of EU passenger to the US, which was announced today in advance of the Justice and Home Council in Luxembourg, Green MEP and member of the EP Civil Liberties committee Cem Özdemir stated:

"With this deal, the EU has once again caved to US pressure at the expense of EU citizens' civil liberties. The interim agreement allows the continued plundering of EU passengers' personal information by the US, despite the inferior data protection rights afforded by the US system. As under the previous agreement, US agencies will be able to access and pull out the passenger data they want from EU air carriers' control systems, leaving the system open to abuse and limiting the control that can be exercised on the data transfers. It is imperative the EU ends this practice and that a system under which the airlines control the flow, as Commissioner Frattini has promised is agreed without delay.

"It is disturbing that the EU capitulated to US demands to allow more agencies access PNR data. The legal challenge brought by the EP to the original agreement was, in part, on the grounds that it failed to afford EU citizens sufficient levels of data protection. However, this interim agreement will allow make the data in question more widely available. While there was a clear need to end the legal limbo faced by EU airlines, the EU should not have further compromised the data protection rights of its citizens."

Source: www.greens-efa.org/cms/pressreleases/dok/150/150400.air_passenger_data_deal@en.htm