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Deutsch: EP: Fluggastdaten-Abkommen mit Australien beschlossen

As expected, the European Parliament (EP) gave its consent to the agreement on Passenger Name Records with Australia (yes 463, no 96, abstentions 11) on 27 October 2011. It had already been signed by the Australian Ambassador, Brendan Nelson, and Ambassador Jan Tombinski on behalf of the EU on 29 September and approved by the EP's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) on 17 October.

As a result of the agreement, a total of 19 categories of travel data including credit card information, phone numbers, meal preferences and IP addresses are being transferred and stored for 5.5 years by Australian authorities. The retention period has therefore not been reduced compared to the 2008 agreement.

In its Resolutions of 5 May 2010 and 11 November 2010 the European Parliament had raised several concerns regarding this agreement: it asked for judicial oversight, for a legal proportionality test, for a detailed opinion by the Fundamental Rights Agency, for a ban of data mining and profiling and for the limitation of the length of storage periods. Having received none of these safeguards, that it had previously considered essential for the protection of the fundamental rights of European citizens, the Parliament nonetheless chose to abandon its previous position and support the proposal. Up to date, no evidence has been provided that the collection, storage and processing of this range of personal data for this length of time is proportionate and necessary.

In reaction to the European Parliament's consent to the agreement, several Members of the European Parliament voiced criticism. Albrecht (Greens/EFA, Germany) called the agreement "disproportionate", while Ehrenhauser (Non-aligned/Austria) said the result of the vote was a "severe blow to the credibility of the European Parliament as a guardian of civil rights in Europe."

This is the first of three proposed agreements on the transfer of travel data from the EU to third countries. The USA and Canada want to store data of millions of transatlantic air passengers for 15 years. Moreover, the EU is planning a European system for using PNR data to cover all flights in and out of Europe, while the UK has demanded PNR profiling also for intra-EU flights.

The Council was so confident of the Parliament abandoning its previously held views on this dossier that it published a background note (page 8) with the result, a full two days before MEPs actually voted on the EU-Australia agreement.

Justice and Home Affairs Council (25.10.2011)
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/jha/1...

(Contribution by Kirsten Fiedler - EDRi)