E.U. To Collect Airline Passenger Data

Flags outside the E.U. building in Brussels.

The European Parliament voted to require airlines to provide national authorities with PNR data for all flights from third countries to the E.U. and vice versa.   

Member states will have to set up Passenger Information Units to manage the data, which must be retained for five years. After six months, the data will be “masked out,” or stripped of details that may lead to identification of individuals. 

The PIUs will be responsible for collecting, storing, and processing the data; for transferring them to the competent authorities; and for exchanging them with the PIUs of other member states and with Europol. Such transfers will only be made “on a case-by-case basis” and exclusively for the specific purposes of “preventing, detecting, investigating or prosecuting terrorist offences or serious crime.” 

The measure explicitly bans the processing of personal data revealing a person´s race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, sexual life, or sexual orientation. 

An E.U.-wide PNR system was first proposed 12 years ago, but privacy concerns kept it from passing. With recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, Europe is becoming less sensitive to those concerns and more inclined to strengthen law enforcement.  

Timothy Kirkhope, a conservative member from the United Kingdom who acted as sponsor of the legislation, said analyzing the data will enable intelligence agencies to “detect patterns of suspicious behavior to be followed up. PNR is not a silver bullet, but countries that have national PNR systems have shown time and again that it is highly effective.”  

He said the law “puts in place data safeguards, as well as proving that the law is proportionate to the risks we face.” 

The measure must be formally approved by the European Council. Once it is published in the E.U.’s Official Journal, member states will have two years to incorporate it into their national laws. 

As is often the case, Denmark is opting out of the PNR system.