WRITTEN QUESTION E-0138/04 by Kathalijne Buitenweg (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Use of passenger data for CAPPS II testing.
Date: 2004-01-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: United States, air transport, disclosure of information, information system, personal data, protection of privacy, testing

C 84 E/166

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

and both direct and indirect discrimination are covered. The Member States had to transpose the Directive
by 2 December 2003, and once it is transposed people must take their case before the national courts
under national law.

Article 6 of the Directive allows for the justification of differences of treatment on the grounds of age in
certain circumstances, as long as this is objectively justified by a legitimate aim, and the means of
achieving that aim are proportionate and necessary. This could include the setting of special conditions on
access to employment and vocational training for young people and older workers, the fixing of minimum
conditions for age, professional experience or seniority for access to employment or to certain advantages
linked to employment and the fixing of a maximum age for recruitment based on the training.

The Honourable Member does not mention the upper age limit used by the Greek Power Corporation for
recruitment purposes. It is not clear from the information provided whether the differences of treatment
based on age described by the Honourable Member could be justified under Article 6 of Directive 2000/78/
EC.

Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work
concluded by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the Union of Industrial and Employers’
Confederations of Europe (UNICE) and the Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation (CEEP) stipulates
that employers must inform fixed-term workers about vacancies to ensure that they have the same
opportunity to secure permanent positions as other workers. The introduction of an age limit for
employment in the vacant posts is not, however, contrary to Directive 1999/70/EC. Another issue is that
this Directive would not allow for successive fixed-term contracts which continue for years. The
Commission has contacted the Greek authorities in order to solve the problems arising from the use of
successive fixed-term contracts.

(2004/C 84 E/0204)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0138/04

by Kathalijne Buitenweg (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Use of passenger data for CAPPS II testing

(26 January 2004)

The agreement on transferring PNR data to the American authorities, presented to the European
Parliament by Commissioner Bolkestein on 16 December 2003, allows European citizens’ personal data to
be used in the testing of the controversial CAPPS II system. The Americans have apparently undertaken
not to use the data in operational situations, to delete it as soon as the test phase is over and not to pass it
on to third parties.

On 12 January 2004, the Washington Post reported that the American authorities had not succeeded in
finding an American airline willing to take part in CAPPS II testing. In 2003, two American airlines
withdrew their cooperation after protests from civil rights groups and the threat of a consumer boycott.

1.
Is it true that the agreement allows European citizens’ personal data to be used in the testing of
CAPPS II? How can the Commission guarantee that the American authorities will not, in fact, use this data
in operational situations, that they will delete it as soon as the test phase is over and that they will not pass
it on to third parties?

2.
Does the Commission share the view that pledging cooperation with the testing of a system that is at
odds with European principles and rules on privacy protection and that, in principle, could have remained
totally outside the agreement is an ominous step?

3.
The report in the Washington Post indicates that the Americans have been searching for passenger
data to test CAPPS II as a matter of urgency. Was the commitment given by the Commission a condition
for the discreet concessions made by the Americans in other areas of the agreement that facilitated the
conclusion of this agreement?

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/167

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(11 March 2004)

In the framework of its negotiations with the United States (US) authorities on the transfer of
1.
Passenger Name Record (PNR) data, the Commission has agreed that PNR data from the EU may be used
in testing CAPPS II, but only subject to very strict and limitative conditions. In addition to the conditions
mentioned by the Honourable Member, all sensitive data categories must have been deleted before any
testing can take place. The letter from the Member of the Commission responsible for the Internal Market
to US Homeland Security Department Secretary Ridge of 18 December 2003 on this subject, which is
available on the Commission’s website (1), makes it clear that the Commission is in principle prepared to
co-operate with the Department of Homeland Security on CAPPS II, but only in so far as the CAPPS II
system has obtained the necessary US domestic clearances first. No such testing using passenger data is in
any case taking place now, as the US authorities have confirmed to us. The Commission believes that the
political commitments it has received that the agreed conditions will be met can be relied on.

2.
The CAPPS II programme will involve the computerised pre-screening of passengers in advance of
flights with the aim of concentrating examinations at the point of embarkation on those passengers who
may present a rear risk. The US Department of Homeland Security considers this to be an important part
of their efforts to ensure the safety of civil aviation and avoid any repetitions of the events of 9/11. The
Commission would like to observe that it is premature to say that this programme is ‘at odds with
European principles and rules on privacy protection’, first because CAPPS II is still under development in
the US, and second because the Commission would start examining these questions only once the system
has received all U.S. domestic clearances. Descriptions of CAPPS II published by the United States
authorities, notably on 15 January 2003 and 31 July 2003, did indeed raise a number of specific concerns
and any future possible use of data originating in the EU by this system would clearly have to be
conditioned on adequate safeguards. Furthermore,
the US General
Accounting Office (GAO) has concluded in its February 2004 investigation requested by the US Congress
that there were still a number of data protection concerns regarding CAPPS II.

the Commission is aware that

3.
The Commission has no comment to make on the article in The Washington Post, other than to say
that various barriers remain to be cleared before United States domestic carriers’ passenger data and
subsequently EU passenger data can be used for testing CAPPS II.

As regards testing, the Commission sees an interest in the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA)
testing of CAPPS II with non-United States data as well as United States data, when one of the EU’s main
concerns is to ensure that the system should work fairly and not in a way which discriminates against non-
American citizens.

(1) http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/privacy/docs/adequacy/pnr/2003-12-18-letter-bolkestein_en.pdf

(2004/C 84 E/0205)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0139/04

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(26 January 2004)

Subject: Financial support for undersea optic-fibre cable link for the islands of Flores and Corvo (Azores)

An undersea optic-fibre cable link, co-funded by the Community, now connects all parts of Portugal except
for the islands of Flores and Corvo in the Azores Autonomous Region. This state of affairs constitutes
serious discrimination against the residents of those islands in one of the Community’s most remote
regions.

Can the Commission provide information on possible Community support, especially financial,
constructing an undersea optic-fibre cable link for the islands of Flores and Corvo?

for