EC ignores Parliament with transatlantic terror deal
The European Commission has approved an anti-terrorist deal with the United States for sharing airline passenger data, overriding objections from the European Parliament.
The deal was also expected to be backed by the EU council of foreign ministers later today.
The Commission said it disregarded the objections of the parliament because it will give passengers from the EU “adequate protection.”
“We came up with a balanced solution which the member states have supported,” said Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein in Brussels.
“We are doing what we believe best secures the goals we have been working towards for the last year – better data protection and more legal security for airlines,” he said in a statement.
Bolkestein said that not acting now would have meant ”legal uncertainty and the potential withdrawal of US commitments to protect the data transferred – in other words chaos for EU passengers and airlines.”
Data concerned includes credit card numbers, meal preferences and phone numbers.
The parliament has voted to challenge the deal at the EU’s high court, fearing it could give US customs officials access to too much personal information without strong enough guarantees limiting its use.
Interim measures are already in place that provide Washington with even more passenger information than under the proposed permanent agreement.
While EU governments and the EC can legally ignore the parliament’s opinion, a negative ruling by the European Court of Justice could force the EU to change or scrap the transfer deal.
The court is not expected to decide for several months.
The EC and US officials say the data collected under the deal would only be used to fight terrorism and other serious crimes.
They say the deal would limit the amount of data on passengers that can be collected, restricts who can see it and calls for it to be stored no longer than three and a half years.
Europeans would also have right to “equal redress” with US authorities and would have access to a privacy officer who handles complaints.
Washington has warned that if it does not get the passenger information it wants it would punish airlines with fines of up to £3,400 (€5,000) per passenger and the loss of landing rights.
