Out-Law News 1 min. read
12 Feb 2015, 5:12 pm
MEPs are aiming for "the finalisation of an EU PNR directive by the end of the year", the European Parliament said in a statement, and member states are asked to speed up work on data protection laws.
The aim is to ensure that collection and sharing of data is "based on a coherent data protection framework, offering legally binding personal data protection standards across the EU", the Parliament said.
The MEPs also asked the Commission to "assess the consequences of the EU Court of Justice's annulment of the Data Retention Directive, and to seek the views of independent experts on the 'necessity and proportionality' of the PNR proposal".
PNR data can include any personal information collected during bookings for flights, including home addresses, mobile phone numbers, frequent flyer information, email addresses and credit card details.
The PNR directive has been under discussion since it was proposed in 2011, to bring the EU into line with US, Canada and Australia. In 2012, the European Parliament approved an agreement allowing the EU to exchange airline passenger information with the US.
The EU-US PNR agreement restricts how PNR data shared with US authorities can be used. Under the terms of the agreement the data can only be used for the "prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution" of terrorism and certain 'transnational' crimes. It can also be used for "the protection of vital interests of passengers", for example to protect against communicable diseases.
The agreement also contains rules on how long the data can be retained in an 'identifying format'. US authorities can store PNR information in an 'active database' for up to five years. However, after six months information that could be used to identify a passenger must be "depersonalised", with identifying information such as name and contact details codified.
After five years the data must be moved to a 'dormant' database, with stricter access requirements. It can be retained for a further 10 years before being fully anonymised.
The aim to finalise the PNR proposal by the end of this year forms part of the Parliament's counter-terrorism measures. MEPs also proposed de-radicalisation programmes, increased checks at external borders to the Schengen area, and better information sharing between countries.
