A new passenger name
records (PNR) deal was announced this week by the EU and the US. It
covers how much information can be handed to US authorities about
passengers on flights from Europe to the US and the conditions on
which it was kept.
The US won major concessions from the EU, winning its demands to
keep data for far longer and the ability to pass it on to other US
agencies. The EU appeared to win one argument, reducing the amount
of data transferred.
"The number of data collected will be of 19, instead of 34 as
foreseen by the interim Agreement," said a joint statement from the
US and from a number of EU authorities, including the European
Commission, the Council of the European Union and the Presidency of
the Council.
But the number of actual pieces of data asked for only reduced
by two, to 32, and some extra information was asked for.
The new PNR deal lists 19 data fields which will be collected on
every passenger. Many of the fields include multiple pieces of
information.
For example, the previous deal asked for ticket number, ticket
information, one-way ticket data and automated ticket fare quote
data in four separate fields. The new deal has just one field which
asks for "ticketing information, including ticket number, one way
tickets and Automated Ticket Fare Quote".
"Now there are 19 fields from the 34 before, that is a fact,"
said Jesus Carmona, a spokesman for the Council of the European
Union. "It is a question of putting more order in the previous
34."
Carmona did not accept that the change was a misleading attempt
to make a clerical rearrangement look like a negotiations success.
"It is an achievement, now things are clearer than before," he
said. "Now we have a clear presentation of what the US want
exactly."
Negotiations over PNR data have long proved controversial. The
European Parliament has opposed the sending of data on principled
grounds and has challenged one of the deals in court. The European
Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled a previous deal illegal, but only on a
technicality. An almost identical interim agreement replaced it,
and this long term agreement replaces that in turn.
Data protection officials also oppose the deal because the US
does not have as strict privacy safeguards as Europe. The PNR
system was put in place in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in
the US in September 2001.
Europe's privacy watchdog has opposed the latest version of the
PNR system. Assistant European Data Protection Supervisor Joaquin
Bayo Delgado told weekly technology podcast OUT-LAW Radio of his opposition.
"We are really worried about the terms in which this agreement
has been reached," he said. "We are not pleased by the result and
our wishes would have been to have a different outcome of the
negotiations."
Bayo Delgado said that he was working with other data protection
officials on Europe's Article 29 Working Party to investigate the
workings of the new deal.
The old PNR deal's data fields
- PNR record locator code
- Date of reservation
- Date(s) of intended travel
- Name
- Other names on PNR
- Address
- All forms of payment information
- Billing address
- Contact telephone numbers
- All travel itinerary for specific PNR
- Frequent flyer information (limited to miles flown and
address(es))
- Travel agency
- Travel agent
- Code share PNR information
- Travel status of passenger
- Split/divided PNR information
- E-mail address
- Ticketing field information
- General remarks
- Ticket number
- Seat number
- Date of ticket issuance
- No show history
- Bag tag numbers
- Go show information
- OSI information
- SSI/SSR information
- Received from information
- All historical changes to the PNR
- Number of travellers on PNR
- Seat information
- One-way tickets
- Any collected APIS (Advanced Passenger Information System)
information
- ATFQ (Automatic Ticketing Fare Quote) fields
The new PNR deal's data fields
- PNR record locator code,
- Date of reservation/ issue of ticket
- Date(s) of intended travel
- Name(s)
- Available frequent flier and benefit information (i.e., free
tickets, upgrades, etc.)
- Other names on PNR, including number of travelers on PNR
- All available contact information (including originator
information)
- All available payment/billing information (not including other
transaction details linked to a credit card or account and not
connected to the travel transaction)
- Travel itinerary for specific PNR
- Travel agency/travel agent
- Code share information
- Split/divided information
- Travel status of passenger (including confirmations and
check-in status)
- Ticketing information, including ticket number, one way tickets
and Automated Ticket Fare Quote
- All Baggage information
- Seat information, including seat number
- General remarks including OSI, SSI and SSR information
- Any collected APIS information
- All historical changes to the PNR listed in numbers 1 to
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