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European Union approval for transfer of airline passengers' personal data to the United States
Doc. 10268
2 September 2004Written Question No. 451 to the Committee of Ministers
presented by Mr Masson
Mr Masson wishes to point out to the Committee of Ministers that the European Union recently gave its approval for airlines to supply the United States with personal data concerning passengers purchasing a ticket to fly to that country. Staff of the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection will now have automatic access to passenger data obtained by travel agencies and airlines. Under an agreement between the United States and the European Union signed in May 2004 transfer of personal data will be systematic for passengers flying from Europe to the US. This enhanced cooperation must be seen against the background of the security hysteria currently prevailing in the United States, in which little store is set by human rights.
The agreement in question shows all the more disregard for personal freedoms in that data collected in a commercial capacity are being used for security purposes, which breaches the principles of the European Convention on Human Rights. The US requirements may admittedly help combat terrorism, but there is considerable risk of abuse. We have already learned this from experience, with the emergence of an area outside the law at Guantanomo Bay and the use of torture in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The agreement identifies 34 categories of personal data, transfer of which would seem to break European law. They include details of past air journeys to other countries, dietary preferences (vegetarianism, consumption of pork or alcohol), health problems, address, civil status details, credit card number, names of persons travelling with the passenger and the seats allocated to them on the plane, billing address for the ticket, information that may reveal the passenger's ethnic origin or religion, names of people with whom the passenger is in contact on the ground, a record of changes made to the passenger's file, etc.
Since the Council of Europe's role is to defend freedoms, Mr Masson asks the Committee of Ministers if the matter should not be referred to the European Court of Human Rights for a ruling as to whether the above-mentioned agreement violates the guarantees contained in the European Convention on Human Rights.
Signed:
[1]
MASSON Jean-Louis, France, EDG
SOC
EPP
EDG
LDR
UEL
NRSocialist Group
Group of the European People’s Party
European Democratic Group
Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group
Group of the Unified European Left
Not registered in a group