European Parliament head seeks to overturn EU-US passenger data deal

[Kellanved]

A day before an EU-US summit in Ireland, European Parliament president Pat Cox asked the European Court of Justice on Friday to annul a controversial agreement under which European airlines will transfer private passenger data to the US authorities.

"(Cox) has decided to ask the EU Court of Justice, on behalf of the European Parliament, to annul ... the conclusion of an agreement with the USA on the processing and transfer of passenger name record (PNR) data by air carriers to the United States Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection," the European Union assembly said in a statement.

The handover of passenger records -- including credit card details, phone numbers and meal preferences -- was one of a raft of unilateral measures imposed by the US authorities after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

The measure was approved on May 17 by the 25 European Union states and the EU's executive arm, the European Commission. But it was fiercely opposed by human rights groups and the European Parliament, the EU's directly-elected assembly.

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http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/040625131031.o8qoy0hl
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/privacy/docs/adequacy/pnr/c-2004-1914/c-2004-1914_en.pdf