PNR/EU-Australia Agreement

Information

Differation to the EU-US Draft is in the legal form of the agreement and in the provisions for redress and judicial review.

Questions raised:

1. Would the EU-Australia agreement in this form be binding on Australia? (The US-EU agreement would not be binding on the US.)
2. Does the Australian Privacy Act provide adequate redress and satisfy EU adequacy requirements? (The laws cited in the US agreement, such as FOIA and the APA, are not data protection or privacy laws, and provide no redress for breach of privacy or violations of other fundamental rights.)
3. Is the Australian Information Commissioner "independent"? (The DHS Chief Privacy Officer is not independent -- in fact, they are at the center of an ongoing scandal about higher-level political interference.)

Official EU-Documents

• [2011-05-19] EC COM(2011) 280 final - Proposal for a Council Decision on the signature of the Agreement between the European Union and Australia on the processing and transfer of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data by air carriers to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service

Positions/Opinions/Resolutions

• [2010-05-05] European Parliament resolution of 5 May 2010 on the launch of negotiations for Passenger Name Record (PNR) agreements with the United States, Australia and Canada
• [2010-11-11] European Parliament resolution of 11 November 2010 on the global approach to transfers of passenger name record (PNR) data to third countries, and on the recommendations from the Commission to the Council to authorise the opening of negotiations between the European Union and Australia, Canada and the United States
• [2011-01-19] Article 29 Working Party Letter to EC on EU PNR agreements with the US, Canada and Australia – new negotiations