]
[Send this page | Invia questo testo ]BOOKMARK THIS PAGE | AGGIUNGI A PREFERITI
OTHER LANGUAGES:
| Strasbourg, 17 December 2003 Declaration by Marco Cappato, radical Member of the European Parliament: "According to a press release by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of yesterday, the US and the EU Commission have reached agreement on the transfer of passenger data. The DHS affirmed that its agreement with the European Commission states that U.S. privacy protections are legal and sufficient to guard passenger privacy. The agreement also allegedly allows US authorities to access 34 elements of Personal Name Record data, that will be retained for maximum three and a half years. According to what Commissioners Palacio, Bolkestein, Vitorino and Patten affirmed yesterday in the European Parliament during a joint legal affairs and citizens'rights committees meeting, there is still no definitive agreement with the US on the transfer of passenger data collected in the EU and consequently accessed by U.S. authorities in breach of EU law, although some steps forward have been done. Furthermore, the European Parliament and the Working Party of European Privacy Supervisors and the representatives of EU Member States shall be consulted before such an agreement is concluded. Furthermore, while Bolkestein admitted some weeks ago that EU laws on privacy are being violated (as also affirmed by the EP), Commissioner Palacio affirmed yesterday that she "did not want to hear any such allegation", before leaving the committee in hurry. The reality is that the current practice of data transfer is in breach of EU regulation 2299/89 on computerized reservation system (which prohibits the access to personal data by third parties without the consent of the person) and of Directive 95/46 (that foresees that any exception to privacy rules should be based on a specific legislative measure of a Member State). This means that the personal data, before being illegally accessed and transferred, are illegally collected. It is now up to the EP to continue with the procedure launched on the 9th of October and to immediately take the Commission to the European Court of Justice for failure to act (the deadline expired on december the 9th) and for violation of EU law." For further information: Office of Marco Cappato tel 0032 2 2847496 fax 0032 2 2849496 mcappato@europarl.eu.int |
[Print 
] [Search
] [More 
]
] [Search
] [More ]
]
[Send this page | Invia questo testo ] OTHER LANGUAGES:
|
|
|