European Parliament asks ECJ to throw out EU-US passenger data deal

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 16th Jun 2004

An extraordinary meeting of the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee decided today to ask the European Court of Justice to annul the recent international agreement on air passenger data transfers to the US. This decision is expected to be endorsed by the Parliament's Conference of Presidents this evening. Speaking after the meeting of the Legal Affairs Committee Graham Watson MEP, leader of the Liberal Democrat and Reform Group, said:

"Today's decision is a reaction to the contempt for the rule of law that Council has displayed by adopting an agreement which privacy watchdogs and MEPs have said contravenes European law. Because the Council has stopped the European Parliament from obtaining an opinion from the ECJ on the legality of the agreement, the European Parliament has been left with only one choice: asking the ECJ to throw out the PNR deal. This is not just a question of protecting the prerogatives of the European Parliament, but it is most importantly a question of protecting our citizens' right to privacy."

The passenger data issue has been championed in the European Parliament by two ELDR rapporteurs: Diana Wallis (UK/Libdem) and Johanna Boogerd-Quaak (Netherlands/D66). Commenting on the decision, Johanna Boogerd-Quaak, rapporteur on the Civil Liberties Committee said:

"Parliament has worked very hard over the past year to ensure that an agreement with the US would not infringe the rights of European citizens. Unfortunately, neither the Commission nor the Council have managed to come up with an agreement that does just that, so it is now a matter for the Court to decide on the annulment of the agreement."

Diana Wallis MEP, rapporteur in the Legal Affairs Committee, added:

"The European Parliament's position has been credible throughout. Today it has taken a decision that is consistent with what a majority of this House has expressed on a number of occasions, namely that the PNR agreement is legally flawed and was not subject to proper parliamentary scrutiny."

Graham Watson complemented Johanna Boogerd Quaak on her work on the PNR issue: "Johanna has steered this issue through the European Parliament with skill and flair. I only wish the voters in the Netherlands had re-elected Johanna to carry on her valuable work."