EU PNR extended to internal flights and only a matter of time before PNR is extended to sea, rail and road traffic too
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23 July 2019
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The Council of the European Union: Monitoring the implementation of Directive (EU) 2016/681 on use of passenger name record (PNR data - State of Play and Way Forward (LIMITE doc no: 6300-19, pdf).
This evaluation shows that:
"The current state of implementation varies across Member States. Out of 27 Member States, which are bound or subject to application of the Directive, currently 20 Member States have notified the Commission to have fully transposed the Directive into national legislation, 3 Member States have notified partial transposition and 4 Member States have not yet communicated any transposition measures. In addition, 24 Member States have notified the establishment of their Passenger Information Unit; all Member States have notified the Commission of the list of competent authorities referred to in Art. 7(3) of the Directive; 24 Member States have notified the Commission of their decision to apply the Directive to intra-EU flights." [emphasis added throughout]
When this Directive was discussed between the Council and the European Parliament the latter wanted the measure limited to flights in and out of the EU - the Council wanted it to cover flights between Member states within the EU. At the last moment the Council dropped this demand and the Directive was passed. The next day 24 Member States issued a statement saying they intended to monitor flights inside the EU too.
Long standing "function creep" back on the agenda
"Broadening the scope of PNR Directive to other types of transportation
With regard to the quantitative replies, the majority of the Member States agreed on broadening the scope of the PNR Directive. The percentages were the following: 83% wants to broader it to maritime, 76% to railway, and 67% to road traffic.
The negative replies highlighted arguments related to the increase of data to be processed by the PIU, something which was unlikely to be manageable, and could even be seen as an intrusion into privacy. Overall, Member States were in favour of broadening the scope of data collection to other types of
transportation, but that it was important to first implement of the PNR Directive as it is, ensure that PIUs can manage the PNR data and are fully operational."
In short it only a matter of time before PNR is extend to sea, rail and road traffic between EU Member States.
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