PNR deal ratification postponed by the Czech Senate

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

The ratification by the Czech Parliament of the proposed agreement between
the European Union and the Unites States of America on the processing and
transfer of passenger name record (PNR) data has been taken off the agenda
based on the position of the Green Party MPs.

On 23 April 2007, EDRI-member Iuridicum Remedium – Czech Republic sent a
written appeal to the members of the Green Party parliamentary club,
recommending them to vote against the ratification of the proposed agreement
between the European Union and the Unites States of America on the
processing and transfer of passenger name record (PNR) data for the
following reasons:

The scope of the agreement submitted for approval as parliamentary paper
no. 162 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Transport has
been (in comparison with the former agreement repealed by the European
Court of Justice) “widened substantially (more data requested, considerable
weakening if not complete elimination of the purpose limitation, sharing
with more and unspecified agencies and countries, undefined retention
periods, allowing for more frequent and earlier pushing of data, no
guarantees for a definitive switch to the PUSH system, the virtual abolition
of the joint evaluation) whereas the protection of personal data of EU
citizens and means of legal redress are at best unclear, and probably weaker
than under the previous agreement.”

Further concerns were raised about the “precedent this agreement may set for
future agreements with the US on PNR, or on other categories of data (such
as bank account details as in the case of SWIFT, or records of
telecommunications). The lack of democratic legitimacy regarding rules on
the transfer of data must be remedied as a matter of urgency.”

Moreover, the Department of Homeland Security has been using PNR data in
the system called the Automated Targeting System, which violates both EU and
US data protection laws. It uses passenger personal data for “risk
assessment scoring” and retains the data for up to 40 years.

In January 2007, Privacy International and ACLU called for repeal of the
EU-US agreement on data transfers on this basis.

Decision on the Agreement between the EU and USA passenger name record
postponed by the Czech Senate (only in Czech, 25.04.2007)
http://www.iure.org/614715

EU original text of the PNR Agreement -submitted as parliamentary paper
n.162 (27.10.2006)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2006/l_298/l_29820061027en00290031.pdf

EDRI-gram: Travellers privacy and European Union (30.07.2006)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.16/prague

(Thanks to Marek Tichy – EDRI-member Iuridicum Remedium, Czech Republic)