EU to 'expedite' post-Madrid passenger data handovers

Washington will assist the EU to develop a system to hand over passenger data to European security agencies, a US diplomat said on Wednesday.

Measures to give EU law enforcement officials access to computerised booking information held on travellers are set to be fast tracked after the March 11 Madrid bombing.

Details can include the names of all travellers, all contact details, telephone numbers, addresses, emails, payment information, bank numbers and credit card data.

A behind-closed-doors meeting of EU diplomats on Wednesday is to prioritise a European version of a Trans-Atlantic agreement already allowing the handover of air traveller data to US security agencies.

Despite an EU-US privacy row, America will share experience of its own ‘Homeland Security’ system to help Europe develop a model.

“We would be more than happy to cooperate in making it happen. We would have no problem with US airlines handing information over to the EU,” said a US diplomat.

“The tragedy of Madrid shows once again we live in a dangerous world, it shows we need to take prudent and effective steps.”

Europe’s diplomatic discussions follow the terror attacks on Spain and a transformed political agenda as EU anti-terror efforts top a March 25 summit of European leaders.

An unpublished draft declaration set to be signed off by European heads of state and government in Brussels this Thursday singles out the issue of air passenger data as a priority.

“The European Council… emphasises that work on measures in this area needs to be expedited,” notes the draft.

“In particular work will be taken forward on… the proposed… obligation of air carriers to communicate passenger data with view to an early conclusion.”

Spain has proposed, before the Madrid bombings, a new European directive requiring air and shipping maritime carriers to collect data on all passengers.

The information, currently suggested to be less than requested by the US, would then be transferred to national security agencies in the destination country.

All foreign nationals who fail to leave the EU on the scheduled date of their return flight would then be investigated.

The US claims that data, known as ‘Passenger Name Records’ (PNR), has been used since March 5 2003 to track terror suspects – and to protect European security.

“They have found people who are under suspicion by the US for trans-national crime or terrorism,” said a diplomat.

“[Those] also include some going from the US to Europe.”

“We are using PNR to screen people going to Europe.”

Washington also notes that the use of PNR has kept air travel delays to minimum during security scares, allowing US officials to check suspect passengers rather tan cancelling flights.

“PNR helped clear flights. In the absence of PNR more flights would have been cancelled,” said the diplomat.

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