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EU:Only three EU Member States have tranposed the PNR Directive into national law - the deadline for the rest is 25 May 2018

13 March 2018

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Only three EU Member States have transposed the PNR Directive into national law - the deadline for the rest is 25 May 2018
13.3.18
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The EU-PNR Directive came into force in November 2016 and has to be implemented by 25 May, which seems highly unlikely. A Council report includes the latest Commission assessment of progress: Directive (EU) 2016/681 on the use of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime - Implementation of the PNR Directive - Exchange of views (LIMITE doc no: 6017-18, pdf).

The report shows that only three Member States have transposed the Directive into national law. Six other Member States are at "an advanced stage" of doing the same,

But thirteen states are at a "intermediate stage" and five are only just starting the transposition stage.

EU PNR includes not just flights in and out of the EU but also flights to and from all Member States inside the EU and will cover millions of EU citizens, See: Council Statement 2016 (7829-ADD-1-16, pdf). The European Parliament opposed the inclusion of intra-EU flights but after its adoption all 28 Member States adopted a statement:

"Article 2 of the PNR Directive allows Member States that so wish to apply it to intra-EU flights on a voluntary basis, upon notice to the Commission to that end.

Considering the current security situation in Europe, Member States declare that by the date of transposition provided for in Article 18 they will make full use of the possibility provided for by Article 2 under the conditions set by the Directive."

The parliament was simply by-passed.

Conference on the future of PNR data

On 21 February 2018 a Conference on the future of PNR data - effective use and challenges (LIMITE doc no:6104-18, pdf) was held in Sofia organised by the Bulgarian Council Presidency. It was attended by 24 Member States, a number of EU agencies and "USA and Australia".

The Conference Conclusions said the processing of data:

"should comply, at the same time, with the principles of necessity and proportionality."

This would seem pretty hard to achieve as it will involve the mass collection of personal data on PNR collected on all visitors to the EU and all EU citizens flying in and around the EU.

The report then says:

"PNR data used as a law enforcement tool is the next big step in the common efforts to prevent terrorism and serious crime, and to safeguard the Union’s security. The PIUs will significantly enhance the existing cross-border law enforcement cooperation framework allowing for more proactive and preventive actions. PIUs are part of a much bigger picture of interoperability between EU IT systems, combining political, legal and practical aspects. PIUs need therefore to be incorporated within the existing framework of law enforcement information exchange in the most efficient and pragmatic way. The effective cooperation between national PIUs should be enhanced and analytical capacities should be further developed."

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