EU court OKs collection of passenger data
Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, May 30, 2006
BRUSSELS, Belgium – U.S. authorities will be able to keep trawling through personal data on passengers flying from Europe, even though the European Union’s highest court found problems Tuesday with the accord that made airlines share the information.
The court ruling requires EU and U.S. officials to change the legal foundation of the deal before the end of September, but it has no immediate effect on a program that lets U.S. officials see dozens of pieces of information about each passenger – including name, address and credit card details.
The judges’ ruling did not address whether the 2004 data agreement violated privacy laws.
EU, U.S. and airline officials said they were all but certain the deal could be reworked by the court-imposed Sept. 30 deadline.
The agreement gives U.S. authorities the right to 34 pieces of information about each passenger, data sent 15 minutes before departure for the United States.
In its ruling on a complaint filed by the European Parliament, the European Court of Justice considered only the legal basis of the pact, and concluded the agreement was illegally adopted.
The European Parliament had asked the court to annul the deal. Washington warned that airlines faced fines of up to $6,000 per passenger, and the loss of landing rights, if the information was not provided.
