Passenger Name Record

Background and Information

After the implementation of the EU Data Retention Directive in 2005, the Commission presented an evaluation report in 2011 and intends to present a proposal to revise the directive. This might be the last chance to repeal the directive.

Timeline

• 9-10 June 2011: JHA Council (Luxembourg) on EU-Australia-Agreement
• 14 June 2011: Panel at CFP (Washington DC)
• 16 June 2011: LIBE Committee: Debate on EU-Australia-Agreement (Brussels)
• 22/23 June 2011: EP Plenary
• Mid-June 2011: Opinion by Fundamental Rights Agency
• August 2011: BXL Shut down / Holiday & Travel season
• September 2011: Final vote on Australia-Agreement
• Nov./Dez. 2011: Proposal for new Data Protection Directive » Safe Harbor etc.

Actions / action ideas

• Anti-PNR Campaign by Open Rights Group, UK
• Work-and-Lobby-Weekend in Brussels, 28-30 June 2011
• Summer time is travel season. Distribute leaflets and start actions at airports and travel agencies! Make sure you have media coverage.

To-Talk-To

• List of Members of the European Parliament (MEP) by Name
• List of MEPs by Country
• List of MEPs by Group
• Who-is-Who directory of the European Union

Resources

Observatories

• European Parliament Legislative Observatory: Fight against terrorism and serious crime: use of passenger name record data
• Statewatch Observatory: EU surveillance of passengers (EU-PNR, 2003-2008) - revisited 2011
• Statewatch Observatory: EU PNR Directive (Passenger Name Record) (2011)
• Statewatch Observatory: EU-US PNR Agreement
• NoPNR: Documents of Commission, Council and NGOs, e.g.:

• Proposal for a Directive ot the European Parliament and the Council of Europe
• UK-Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe on the use of Passenger Name Record

Official Documents

Positions

• European Data Protection Supervisor
• Article 29 Data Protection Working Party
• German Delegation

Analyses

• Statewatch - Hynes, M. (2011): Proposal for a Directive on the use of Passenger Name Record data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime (March 2011).
• Statement of CEP on PNR (CEP = "Centrum für Europäische Politik", an EU-political Think Tank of the Foundation "Stiftung Ordnungspolitik")
• Hasbrouck, E. (2011): Analysis of the draft US-EU agreement on PNR for the Identity Project / PapersPlease.org (May 2011).

Academic Papers

• de Hert, P./Bellanova, R. (2011): Transatlantic Cooperation on Traveler's Date Processing - From Sorting Countries to Sorting Individuals.

FAQ

• What's in a PNR? by Edward Hasbrouck

References

• Hasbrouck, E.: Testimony at EP hearing on PNR, including slides of PNR ecosystem and data flows (April 2010)
• How to request your PNR data from the U.S. DHS and travel companies (English; could use German and other translations; request templates need to be modified for each country to cite national laws)

Organizations and Websites for additional information

• NoPNR! by Alexander Sander
• Papers, please! by Edward Hasbrouck
• European Digital Rights (EDRi) on Airline Passenger Data

Tools

• Research-Toolbox on Lobbying from Corporate Europe Observatory
• How-To for a decentralized Public-Phone-Call-Campaign called Callshop Meeting

Material

• German PNR-Flyer (March 2011) and its Open Document-Sourcecode
• Translation project:
  • DE/NoPNR-flyer
  • EN/NoPNR-flyer
  • FR/NoPNR-flyer

Links

• Small Guide for "Privacy-Travellers" to Brussels (German)
• EU-lobbying on data retention (English)
• How-To EU-Lobby (German)

Terminology

Some abbreviations:

• PNR = Passenger Name Record
• DR = Data Retention
• MEP = Member of Parliament
• EP = European Parliament
• DG = Directorate Generale e.g. Home Affairs
• Article 29 Group = EU Data Protection Working Group