The European Parliament approved new rules for registering air passenger data

This Thursday, the European Parliament gave the green light to two new standards for recording data on passengers arriving in the EU by air, to improve border management and combat terrorism and other crimes.

The border control law was approved by 492 votes in favor, 33 against and 10 abstentions, and the police use law was approved by 438 votes in favor, 35 against and 60 abstentions.

The two approved rules stipulate the data that airlines must collect and report to authorities, information in addition to that already recorded in the Passenger Identification Register (PNR).

This expanded information will include name, date of birth, nationality, travel document type and number, seat and baggage information, and certain flight-specific data such as identification number, airport code, and departure and arrival times.

In principle, only data will be collected on flights departing from outside the EU, although states may include information on flights within the EU itself if there is a specific need for security services, in particular if there is a terrorist threat.

The new rules will allow authorities to match this data with PNR data that includes additional information such as flight route or booking information, which can be particularly effective in identifying high-risk travelers and confirming the travel patterns of suspicious individuals.

The aim is that the new rules will also make the job of border authorities easier, as they will be able to carry out checks before passengers land and store data for longer than previously allowed.

The agreement stipulates that airlines and border authorities can only store data for 48 hours and an additional 48 hours, for example, in cases where a passenger does not arrive at a border crossing on the scheduled day.

In addition, biometric information was excluded from the data subject to registration and provisions were introduced to prohibit the compilation of profiles of individuals based on these records or statistical data derived from them, so that they could not lead to discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, language , religion. or disability, among other things.

According to the Council, the rules will require information to be recorded in an automated and standardized manner and transmitted to a centralized router from where it will be sent to competent authorities, increasing efficiency and reducing costs and the risk of errors.

Following political approval, the laws will be vetted by legal linguists before they are finalized through a revision process following the June 6-9 European elections. Once published in the Official Journal of the EU, they will enter into force within 20 days.