MEP victory in PNR judgement

3.01.42pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 30th May 2006

Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Liberal Democrat European Justice Spokeswoman, has welcomed, so far as it goes, a European Court of Justice decision today that ruled that agreements between the EU (European Commission and Council of Ministers) and the United States on transfer of personal details of transatlantic air passengers were illegal. This data is known as Passenger Name Record (PNR) data. The European Parliament brought the initial complaint.

They ruled that existing EU data protection law only covers commercial data, not that used for security purposes, so there was no legal basis for finding that the US offered adequate protection.

Sarah Ludford said:

"The Commission and Council are hoist by their own petard! The European Parliament has been arguing for years for adequate safeguards when data is transferred in the police and intelligence field. They could have saved the expense, hassle and delay of a court case by listening to us.

"Our victory in this case demonstrates the refusal of MEPs to buckle in the face of transatlantic bullying, and to challenge 'security' proposals which undermine the legitimate interests of the citizens we are elected to represent.

"While I am disappointed that the Court did not go on to examine our data protection concerns, MEPs will now be equally robust if the EU-US agreement is now replaced with a series of bilateral agreements with similarly inadequate safeguards against misuse of personal data."