Commission wants passenger data on travellers from the US
Click:butterfly valve wholesale
Commission wants passenger data on travellers from the US
EU-US data-sharing deal could be extended; Reding and Malmström meet US officials in Madrid.
The European Commission wants airlines to transmit to European authorities the personal details of passengers travelling from the United States to Europe.
Under current rules, the airlines provide the US authorities with passenger name records (PNR) containing names, addresses, itineraries and credit card numbers of travellers from the European Union to the US, but there is no mechanism for such data-sharing in the other direction, or between EU member states.
The extension of the PNR exchange would form part of a new data-sharing framework agreement between the EU and the US, which the two sides intend to negotiate later this year. Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for justice, and Cecilia Malmström, the European commissioner for home affairs, will discuss the matter with Janet Napolitano, the US secretary for homeland security, and Eric Holder, the US attorney general, in Madrid today and tomorrow (8-9 April).
According to Commission officials, Reding plans to present her fellow commissioners with a negotiating mandate for a framework agreement with the US on data-sharing early in June. The framework agreement is supposed to set out the principles for protecting personal data shared between the EU and the US, notably the principle of reciprocity and non-discrimination between EU and US citizens in seeking judicial redress for the wrongful use of personal data.
Financial monitoring
In Madrid, Reding and Malmström will also outline a Commission plan to set up a European programme to monitor financial transactions by suspected terrorists, a counterpart to the US Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP). The idea of an EU TFTP was backed by the Commission on 24 March when it adopted a mandate for negotiations with the US on the Swift agreement on sharing information about bank transfers. The agreement will give the US TFTP access to data on European bank transfers conducted through the Swift network. MEPs voted down an interim agreement in February over concerns that the agreement lacked strong data protection provisions and that the text had been withheld from them until shortly before the vote (see box). Reding and Malmström have pledged to keep MEPs fully informed of future negotiations.
Body scanners
The US officials also want to discuss in Madrid the use of full-body scanners, which in effect produce a nude picture of travellers. The EU currently has no rules on their use, which is regulated entirely by member states.
Fact File
Swift
MEPs yesterday (7 April) presented the European Commission with a list of safeguards that they want included in any future deal on sharing bank-transfer data with the US. The safeguards include that the EU should filter the data to be received by the US to ensure it complies with privacy law. The European Parliament in February voted down a Commission-negotiated agreement that would have given the US access to data held by Swift, a consortium of international banks.The issue dominated an earlier EU-US meeting on counter-terrorism in Toledo in January, but the Commission has not yet formally adopted a position on the matter. The technology is controversial among civil liberties advocates and airline security experts, many of whom doubt that it is effective. US officials will also provide an update on the closing of a US military prison in Guantánamo Bay that holds terrorist suspects.
Click Here: Cheap France Rugby Jersey