FC: Update on U.S.-Europe negotiations on access to air databases

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Mon Feb 24 2003 - 13:20:16 PST

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    From: Erich M <meat_private>
    Organization: quintessenz
    To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private>
    Subject: EU/US doqument on flight passenger data revealed
    Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 21:17:15 +0000
    User-Agent: KMail/1.4.3
    
    Declan,
    
    FYI: that is what happened last week in Brussels when US Customs met the EU 
    foreign department. US-Agencies demand direct access to European flight 
    carrier databases. Possible sanctions: no more flights to USA by those EU 
    airlines that do not comply.
    
    The process is in the making this week they will meet again.
    
    Here is the story:
      EU-Flugdaten für die NSA
    http://futurezone.orf.at/futurezone.orf?read=detail&id=146246
    
    Here is the document:
    http://quintessenz.org/pnr.pdf
    
    Excerpts below, feel free to relay. An extended doqument will be published 
    by tomorrow, featuring the changes as the original is a MS-Word phile.
    Have phun ;)
    Erich
    
    
    
    EUROPEAN COMMISSION/US CUSTOMS TALKS ON PNR TRANSMISSION BRUSSELS, 17/18 
    FEBRUARY JOINT STATEMENT 1. Senior officials of the European Commission and 
    the US Administration, led by Director General for External Relations Guy 
    Legras and Deputy US Customs Commissioner Douglas Browning, met in Brussels 
    on 17/18 February 2003 to find a solution to the problems resulting for 
    airlines operating flights to or from the US due to the new Passenger Name 
    Record (PNR) transmission requirements contained in the Aviation and 
    Transportation Security Act 2001. It was necessary in particular to 
    reconcile US requirements with the requirements of data protection law in 
    the EU.
    
    [...]
    
    "The United States Customs Service represents that:
    
    - by legal statute (title 49, United States Code, section 44909(c)(3)) and 
    its implementing (interim) regulations (title 19, Code of Federal 
    Regulations, section 122.49b), air carriers operating passenger flights in 
    foreign air transportation to, from or through the United States, must 
    provide Customs with electronic access to PNR data contained in the 
    automated reservation/ departure control systems ("reservation systems");
    
    [...]
    
    with regard to the PNR data which Customs accesses directly from the air 
    carrier's reservation systems, Customs will only view PNR data concerning 
    persons whose travel includes a flight into, out of or through the United 
    States; -Customs will access air carrier reservation systems as an 
    accommodation to the air carriers to obviate the need for costly technical 
    changes required to allow the air carriers to transmit the data to Customs; -
    
    [...]
    
    - Customs would take the position in connection with any administrative or 
    judicial proceeding arising out of a FOIA request for PNR information, that 
    such records are exempt from disclosure under the FOIA;
    
    [...]
    - other law enforcement entities may specifically request PNR information 
    from Customs and Customs, in its discretion, may provide such information 
    for national security or in furtherance of other legitimate law enforcement 
    purposes; - for purposes of regulating the dissemination of PNR data which 
    may be shared with other law enforcement entities, Customs is considered 
    the "owner" of the data and such entities are obligated by the terms of 
    disclosure to obtain Customs express authorization for any further 
    dissemination (sometimes referred to as the "Third Agency Rule");
    -- 
    //
    Taeglich frische IT-news http://www.futurezone.orf.at
    
    
    
    
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