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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Tony McNulty): I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this timely and important debate.
I simply cannot accept the phrases bandied around at the start of my hon. Friend's speech—that all this has been done almost without thought, with astonishing
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levity and without so much as a discussion or a squeak being raised. Much of the current position has been the result of a good deal of discussion and negotiation between the European Union and the USA. She will understand, too, that while I have responsibility for civil aviation in the UK, the provision of personal data to third parties is regulated in Europe by the data protection directive, which is implemented in the UK by the Data Protection Act 1998. Policy on that matter is the responsibility of my right hon. and learned Friend the Lord Chancellor. If there are matters that she feels that I have not covered, and that need to be pursued in that direction, I am therefore more than happy to follow them up.
As my hon. Friend said, following the terrorist attacks on the US in September 2001, the US passed legislation that required airlines flying to or from its territory to provide the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, which is now part of the Department of Homeland Security, with information about the passengers whom they carry. This information is contained in the airline's reservations and departures database and is known as the passenger name record or PNR. Each passenger has their own PNR.
The amount of PNR data collected about passengers varies from airline to airline but it can be up to 60 individual pieces of data. The data generally include the passenger's name and address and data such as method of payment, details of special requirements and details of the passenger's travel history—all the data used by the airline to provide a full service to the passenger.
Following the 2001 terrorist attacks, the US authorities require airlines to provide these data to help them screen people planning to enter their country. The data are required for the purpose of combating terrorism and other serious international organised crime. PNR data enable the US authorities to identify and focus their resources on possible high-risk individuals and so facilitate and safeguard the passage of the bona fide traveller.
Most of the data elements contained in PNR could in fact be obtained from passengers on arrival by examining travel documents and conducting interviews. Clearly, that would result in significant delays for passengers at US airports. In one real sense, it is for the US Administration to justify their legislation. The simple fact, however, is that the legislation is in place, and any airline wishing to operate to the US must abide by its national law—as it would operating in any other country—or risk facing sanctions. Those sanctions include stiff fines or could even result in the withdrawal of operating permits.
My hon. Friend will appreciate that EU airlines were left in an impossible position following the introduction by the US of the PNR requirement. They were caught between a rock and a hard place—they faced US sanctions for non-compliance, or litigation in Europe under the data protection directive if they did provide the data.
Rightly, my hon. Friend is particularly concerned about UK citizens travelling on British planes, but both are subject to the national laws of the country to which they travel. The absolute right of the US to determine within its own jurisdiction the measures that it believes
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that it needs to take to protect its borders and the people who live on its territory, including many people from the UK and other EU member states, cannot be questioned.
The European Commission and US customs negotiated for much of 2003 to find ways of reconciling the US's legitimate need to collect such data to fight terrorism with the EU's equally legitimate concern to safeguard the information that passengers provide. My hon. Friend expressed those concerns eloquently to the House this evening. The negotiations resulted in the US authorities giving a number of undertakings about the way in which they will handle the data that they receive from EU airlines.
The Commission takes the view—and the Government agree—that those undertakings provide good safeguards for the PNR data. The Commission has now made a formal decision, under the data protection directive, that US customs provides adequate protection for the PNR data transferred from the EU, and the Council of Ministers has adopted a bilateral agreement with the US providing the necessary legal underpinning.
The US undertakings provide important data protection safeguards. For example, they set out the security arrangements that will apply to the data and restrict the number of people who may have access to it. They limit the time for which the US authorities may hold PNR data to three and a half years rather than the 50-year period that, as my hon. Friend pointed out, was originally required. They limit the amount of PNR data required to 34 specific elements; the US wanted far more. US customs has undertaken to filter out and
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delete the most sensitive data, such as that which might reveal racial or ethnic origin or particular opinions or beliefs. That includes the dietary requirements mentioned by my hon. Friend. Most important, the undertakings restrict the use of the data to use for the purpose for which it was originally sought by the US authorities. They also provide a complaints procedure for passengers who believe that that the data held by US customs might be wrong or might have been misused and establish a chief privacy officer in the Department of Homeland Security to expedite the handling of complaints.
My hon. Friend particularly mentioned financial details. The payment information and billing address are two of the 34 elements that the US requires, but the US authorities have undertaken to use only lawful processes, such as subpoena or court order, if they believe that they need to see transaction information linked to a particular account number.
The provisions of the agreement are acceptable to the Government. Indeed, I believe that they are essential to protect the interests of UK airlines. I need not remind my hon. Friend—she certainly reminded the House—of the importance of transatlantic traffic. Without the agreement, data transfers would be exposed to challenge at this end under the data protection directive.
We believe that the undertakings provide a pragmatic solution and that the agreement is proportionate and practical. It provides the necessary legal—
The motion having been made after Seven o'clock, and the debate having continued for half an hour, Mr. Deputy Speaker adjourned the House without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.
- Adjourned at eighteen minutes to Eight o'clock.
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