Regulators in Europe and the United States continue working toward a resolution on a dispute regarding the latter's demand for travelers' data before their flights depart for U.S. airports. The two sides face an end-of-the-month deadline or risk potential flight disruptions and penalties levied on European carriers. Though few expect such dire consequences, time is short. Should negotiations fail, a more likely outcome would be that European travelers are asked to sign waivers allowing their data to be sent to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The data issue revolves around the U.S. government's insistence that other countries transmit information from passenger name records prior to airline departures bound for U.S. cities. An existing agreement covering that request was struck down by the European Court of Justicethis spring and will expire on 30 Sep if it is not replaced. European regulators now are seeking a compromise that would allow U.S. Customs to receive the data it says it needs while protecting data privacy rights of European citizens.
Franco Frattini, European Union Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, last week updated members of the European Parliament on the status of the negotiations, saying U.S. officials were "ready" to accept a two-step process covering PNR data transfer. E.P. previously forwarded a phased approach, including "an interim agreement valid until November 2007" that would lead to a "more coherent" long-term solution and "an eventual E.U. policy on passenger data."
"There is not much time to find a workable solution if we want to avoid legal uncertainty as of 1 Oct," Frattini said last week during a meeting in Brussels with E.P.'s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. "The Parliament fully understands the importance of achieving a new agreement before the [deadline] in order to safeguard the commercial activities of European air carriers, whilst continuing to ensure a high level of security and of privacy for our citizens."
Earlier this month, Frattini during Parliamentary debate said the new deal with the United States "should include the same content" as the existing pact while also incorporating "rules and procedures which effectively restrict the use of PNR data by the U.S. authorities."
Several MEPs voiced similar concerns about how the U.S. would handle, use and store European citizens' personal data, and how it would be legally bound by such terms.
"We need a very good explanation of what PNR data is being used for in the United States," said Sarah Ludford, a Liberal Democrat from the United Kingdom.
Noting agreements between the United States and both Australia and Canada, Carlos Coelho, a European People's Party representative from Portugal, said the European Union "needs dialogue" with all three countries "so we can prepare for the 2007 review and a global approach on PNR."
Specifically, E.P. said the terms of the agreement with the United States should be switched to "a push system" in which U.S. officials "request the specifically required data on a case-by-case basis, instead of being granted access to the full database," while the number of PNR data fields authorized for transmission is reduced.
E.P. also wants a say in how a longer-term deal is structured by working jointly with the European Commission and the Council of European Union. [That request resembles one by the U.S. Congress regarding the Bush Administration's plan--now on hold--to further encourage foreign investment in U.S. airlines, rather than allowing the U.S. Department of Transportation to push through new regulations without Congressional cooperation.]
British Speaker Michael Cashman of the Labour party said that if no data transmission deal is reached, the United States "will quite legally ask passengers to sign a data waiver, which would mean that any notion of E.U.-wide data protection would be absolutely and fundamentally lost."
"As a company, should you have travelers opt-in/opt-out to accept this disclosure? Should companies give notice? Travelers may not want private sensitive information disclosed," said John Caldwell of Caldwell Associates, during this summer's National Business Travel Association conference in Chicago. "But I think there will be an agreement or the commerce of the world will come to a halt."
Meanwhile, American Airlines this week planned to implement "system enhancements" to support additional data collection requirements for the Advance Passenger Information System, as directed by U.S. Customs. "To facilitate the collection of the required information, all agencies are asked to input a passenger's country of residence into the PNR," according to information posted on AA's Web site. "International agencies, including Canadian outlets, should also input the U.S. visiting address for non-resident passengers arriving on flights into the U.S. All visitors to the U.S. are required to provide a full address for their first night's accommodation in the U.S."
Separately, the delay in the United States' decision on the foreign ownership issue jeopardizes a speedy conclusion to a new E.U.-U.S. aviation treaty. DOT's Under Secretary for Policy Jeffrey Shane this month in a speech to the International Aviation Club in Washington said, "We do not expect the proceeding (on foreign ownership) to be finalized prior to the 12 Oct meeting of the European Union Transport Council." Even so, published reports quoted officials from both sides as saying the E.U.-U.S. deal, deemed historic when it was first drafted last November, could still be signed before year-end.
"The ball is in the U.S. court and I am confident of their commitment," said International Air Transport Association director general Giovanni Bisignani in a speech this week. "I hope that this important business agreement is not once again hijacked by domestic politics."