(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)
On 10 July 2007 the members of the European Parliament (EP) adopted with an overwhelming majority, close to 90%, a Resolution that heavily criticizes the new PNR agreement struck by the European Commission with the US Department for Homeland Security (DHS), considering it "substantively flawed", in particular by "open and vague definitions and multiple possibilities for exception".
The EP considers that the new deal still fails to offer an adequate level of data protection and that it has been concluded without any involvement of parliaments from both sides, lacking democratic oversight. The resolution explains what are the main weak points of the agreement:
a. The handling, collection, use and storage of personal data from air passengers by US DHS is not founded on a legal agreement but on non-binding assurances remitted in a letter, which can be unilaterally changed.
b. PNR transfer is not limited to fighting terrorism, it can also be used for other "unspecified additional purposes" by the US government.
c. Information regarding ethnic origin, political opinions, sex life of the individual etc. will be also made available and can be used by the US DHS in exceptional cases.
d. The fields of data which can be accessed from each PNR file have been reduced from 34 to 19, but "the reduction is largely cosmetic due to the merging of data fields instead of actual deletion."
e. Data can be retained for longer periods with the new agreement - from 3,5 years to 15. Besides that, PNR data will be kept for seven years in "active analytical databases", leading to a big risk of massive profiling, contrary to EU principles.
The Parliament has also taken the opportunity to question Commissioner Frattini's latest statements regarding the creation of a European PNR system, that could oblige the airlines flying to the EU to share passenger private data with Europe's secret services.
The national parliaments need to approve the agreement and we could see some interesting developments, taking into consideration that the EP resolution also asked for a careful examination of the present PNR draft .
Joint resolution "On the PNR agreement with the United States" (10.07.2007)
http://quintessenz.org/doqs/000100003894/2007_07_11_EU-parl_PNR_joint%...
MEPs fear that new PNR agreement fails to protect citizens' data
(12.07.2007)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/019-8993-190-...
Draft text - PNR Agreement (28.06.2007)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2007/jul/eu-usa-pnr-agreement-2007.pdf