E.U., U.S. Reach Accord On Passenger Data - 2004-01-05

The United States and the European Union on Dec. 17 reached an agreement on key sticking points to the legal transfer of E.U. Passenger Name Record data to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. According to chief European negotiator Frits Bolkestein, the European Commission finally agreed to the data transfer after the United States offered to concede the amount and nature of personal data required and the use of such data for law enforcement purposes strictly for terrorism and trans-national crimes. The agreement will go into effect after review by the European Parliament and be in place for 3.5 years, with renegotiations beginning in 2.5 years.

Bolkestein, who serves as EC Internal Market Commissioner, said in a statement that in addition to cutting the number of personal data fields from 39 to 34, the United States also agreed to delete all sensitive data, such as information about a passenger's health, race or religion. Earlier this month, U.S. negotiators agreed to limit to 3.5 years the storage time of the data, down from an initial request for 50 years. The United States also offered the ability for passengers to complain if they had a concern about the collection or use of their data.

As early as Dec. 1, the United States remained firm on using PNR information to combat other crimes in addition to terrorism and against cutting the required number of PNR data fields.

"This finding by the European Commission affirms under European law that protections to be implemented by Homeland Security are appropriate to guard passenger privacy," according to DHS Secretary Tom Ridge. "By using 34 key elements of PNR data at borders and ports of entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers will be able to better screen passengers for the purposes of preventing and combating terrorism and trans-national crimes. The PNR data will be generally retained for no longer than 3.5 years."

In addition, DHS will continue to negotiate with the EC to reach a permanent agreement for the transfer of PNR data to the Transportation Security Administration for use by the second-generation Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II), which will identify high-risk passengers for additional screening.