[Infowarrior] - Court outlaws EU-U.S. passenger data transfer

[Richard Forno]

Court outlaws EU-U.S. passenger data transfer

By Lars Pasveer
http://news.com.com/Court+outlaws+EU-U.S.+passenger+data+transfer/2100-1029_
3-6077893.html

Story last modified Tue May 30 11:41:16 PDT 2006

A 2004 deal between the European Union and the United States that would
allow transfers of passenger data records has been deemed illegal by the
European Court of Justice in Luxemburg.

The judgement follows six pleas by the European Parliament around the
exchange of the data, called Passenger Name Records (PNR).

The deal was struck two years ago between the European Commission and the
United States government despite opposition by the European Parliament.
Airlines were forced to release data originally deemed private under
European law, or face revocation of landing rights within the United States.

The Luxembourg court has now ruled that the deal goes against European
Community law, and has concluded it should therefore be annulled, with
exchange of PNR data to cease as of Sept. 30. In the meantime, airlines
claim to have invested millions of dollars to make their computer systems
suitable for the required transfers.

The so-called "no-fly lists" compiled with such data--complemented by credit
card records--have in recent years forced some flights to return to Europe
or divert to Canada.

Of the six pleas, the court only reviewed the first, looking mainly at the
technical legal grounds on which the European Commission entered into the
agreement. This will disappoint many members of the European Parliament, who
had hoped the courts would base the verdict on privacy issues.

Now that the agreement has been annulled, the court said other issues are
irrelevant. "It is not necessary to consider the other limbs of the first
plea or the other pleas relied upon by the Parliament," the court said.

Lars Pasveer of ZDNet Netherlands reported from the Hague.