Following a complaint from European parliament member Marco Cappato the Belgian data protection office is investigating a possible violation of European privacy law by the airline carriers Continental Airlines and United Airlines. Mr Cappato sent a letter to the Belgian data protection commissioner urging his office to investigate the transfer of his personal data to the US authorities. These so-called PNR data are sent to the US authorities by airlines following an agreement between US Customs and the European Commission. This agreement is considered unlawful by many observers.

The Belgian data protection office has told Mr Cappato that "The commission contacted the companies concerned, in order to obtain information concerning the implementation of a system of transfer to the American authorities of the personal data of their passengers travelling towards the United States. The Commission also asked these companies to indicate the detail of the transmitted data, their mode of transmission, which information has been communicated to you in this respect as well as the information generally communicated to each passenger concerned, as well as the fact of knowing if the passenger is made able to agree voluntarily or to oppose the transfer."

Mr Cappato used one of the model letters that European Digital Rights offers for download on its website. The model letters are part of EDRI's campaign against the illegal transfer of airline passenger data.

EDRI campaign against the transfer of PNR-data to the USA
http://www.edri.org/cgi-bin/index?funktion=view&id=000100000085