On 12 September the moratorium expires on the transfer of European passenger-data to the United States. Already harsh words are being exchanged between EU institutions, one of the last realms of diplomatic kindness. "The violation of EU legislation is continuing and with it the rights of European citizens are being violated." This judgement from an official Working Document of the European Parliament is aimed at the Commission, which, according to the document, "in the 6 months since the adoption of Parliament's resolution (on the transfer of Airline Passenger's PNR data to U.S. authorities) has made very little progress with regard to ensuring that EU data protection legislation is observed". Still, the EP rapporteur, Dutch Liberal Johanna Boogerd-Quaak, continues, "Your rapporteur believes that the US commitments do not offer adequate protection." "This", she concludes, "is a flagrant violation of EU data protection legislation, as laid down in Directive 95/46 EC and Regulation 2299/89." Members of Parliament are now ready to prepare two oral questions for the Council and the Commission, and eventually take legal action before the European Court of Justice.

On 13 March, the Parliament passed a resolution containing criticism of the Commission's secretive negotiations with U.S. envoys about the transfer of airline passenger's personal data to the United States. Parliament was angry about the lack of adequate level of data protection. It urged the Commission to ensure that EU Privacy and Data Protection law would be respected. Up to the present day that is not the case. The procedure that might now follow is laid down in Article 232 of the EC Treaty. First an official warning by the Parliament. Next, action before the Strasbourg court that could result in the Commission being obliged to stop the transfer immediately. Already on 2 September, the Chair of the EP Civil Liberties Committee has taken first steps to prepare such action.

This is also what the Parliament will urge now: a prohibition of all data transfer on a 'pull' basis by 1 October, and an international agreement that will have to be in accordance with EU data protection law. In her Working Paper, Mrs. Boogerd-Quaak goes into some detail and exemplifies minimum requirements any future arrangement should meet to avoid legal action, such as reducing the storage time from 7 years to the duration of the passenger's stay in the U.S. and reconsidering whether PNR transfer is adequate in the proclaimed fight against terrorism.

On 5 May EDRi launched a campaign against the PNR transfer, with letters passengers can send to the national Data Protection Authority in their country to request an investigation of the illegal transfer of their personal data.

EP draft Oral Question to the Council (02.09.2003)
http://www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/committees/libe/20030908/505934en....

Working Document Johanna L.A. Boogerd-Quaak (02.09.2003)
http://www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/committees/libe/20030908/506027en....

EP Resolution (Motion 10.03.2003, accepted 13.03.2003)
http://www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/committees/libe/20030310/492022EN....

EDRi campaign against the illegal transfer of European travellers' data to the USA
http://www.edri.org/campaigns/airline

(Contribution by Andreas Dietl, consultant on EU privacy issues)