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EU-PNR: Council of the European Union: Confusion in the Council over key elements of EU-PNR proposal

01 June 2011

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EU-PNR: Council of the European Union: Confusion in the Council over key elements of EU-PNR proposal, see Point 4 in: Summary of discussions (pdf). The meeting of the Working Party on General Matters, including Evaluation (GENVAL) heard a presentation from the Council's Legal Service expressing concern at the necessity and proportionality of the proposal under the Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and:

"While some delegations stated that they were convinced of the need for collecting and processing PNR data, others indicated that they faced difficulties in convincing national Parliament of such necessity."

The Commission opposed the UK plan for targeting certain flights "on the grounds that the information gaps it would create in the collection of data within Member States would also hamper the information exchange between Member States as the requested Member State might not have collected the requested PNR data." (emphasis added) and "many Member States also expressed qualms regarding the idea of allowing Member States to restrict the collection of PNR data to targeted flights."

On retention periods: "The discussions showed a divergence of opinions between Member States on what is the appropriate period for retaining data. A few Member States were of the opinion that the initial period of 30 days with full access was too long, whereas several other Member States thought it should be longer."

An earlier discussion on EU-PNR and data protection on 2 May 2011: EU doc no: 9502-11 (pdf) contains the classic statement:

"it needs to be kept in mind that the collection and processing of PNR data serves certain law enforcement purposes (set out in Article 4(2)) and therefore care needs to be taken that any data protection arrangements for the collection and processing of PNR data do not defeat the very law
enforcement purposes they are supposed to serve." (emphasis added)

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