Debate: Advance passenger information: enhancing and facilitating external border controls - Advance passenger information: prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime
Date: WEDNESDAY, 24 APRIL 2024
Speaker: Assita Kanko
Country: France
Language: EN

At the moment, 27 Member States and hundreds of airlines use a wide range of separate systems to send passenger data to countries of destination. The passenger data are collected in a self-declaratory manner. Of course, the vast majority of travellers are of goodwill, but the bad guys find ways to abuse the system and travel in and out of the EU undetected. I think that with the solutions we found, we will make life more difficult for criminals and terrorists, but easier for travellers, air carriers and Member State authorities. Now, picking up from my colleague Jan-Christoph, the first point I wanted to mention here is the new Article 5a in API law enforcement on the selection of intra-EU flights. It was not in the Commission proposal, but we made a proposal in the Parliament mandate. The reason is that the European Court of Justice 2 years ago ruled that PNR data may be collected for internal EU flights and shared with law enforcement authorities, but strict limitations will have to apply. The text we have agreed stays fully within the Court ruling on the PNR Directive, whilst offering the Member States and the Commission concrete tools for the implementation of this ruling. I am glad that we could also agree the 12-month deadline for reviews of the assessment. With everything we put in place, we make sure that people’s privacy is protected. The second point worth highlighting here today is that we agreed to move towards mandatory use of the router for PNR data as well. From Parliament’s side, we believed from the start that this would be wise. Most importantly, it will improve privacy oversight. It can truly help with the implementation and supervision of the Court ruling on PNR. It can also lead to a streamlining that is beneficial for air carriers and Member States alike. I think that the phasing approach is the right one, and I would like to thank the Commission for the updated legislative financial statement, which shows the commitment to make the router work also for PNR data starting in 2028. Thirdly, I would like to mention a point that was a bit more difficult for Parliament, namely, what to do in case of technical impossibility to use the router. Throughout the negotiations, Parliament always wanted to stay very closely within the scope of the regulations and avoid any parallel systems. However, we do understand that, in some exceptional cases, Member State authorities may need to ask air carriers for API data via other means if the central system managed by eu-LISA is down. I am glad that the Council accepted our wish to add some extra safeguards, and I trust that with the triple backup of the system, these situations will in any case be extremely rare. Finally, from my side, I would also like to underline our flexibility in accepting the Council’s text on the governance structure. We believe it is a bit unusual to be so specific at the level of the main legislation. However, we also do understand the Council’s desire to give clarity and legal certainty about the various groups and bodies involved in preparing and monitoring the system. Let me take this opportunity to again thank my colleagues, rapporteur Oetjen and the shadows, including Jeroen Lenaers and Tineke Strik, who are present here, and I think we were able to step over all kinds of difficulties from time to time, and we can be proud of the agreement on these important regulations. Of course, I thank all the staff and especially my advisor, Jannes De Jong.