#PassengerNameRecords: Useful against terrorism, but privacy and proportionality worries remain

Many MEPs speaking in Wednesday’s (14 April) debate were convinced that the proposed EU law on the use of Passenger Name Records (PNR) will be a useful tool in the fight against terrorism and serious crime. But others voiced serious concerns about the adequacy of privacy safeguards and the proportionality of massive collection of data.

The EU PNR directive, which Parliament will put to a plenary vote on Thursday, will oblige airlines to hand EU countries their passengers' data for all flights from a third country to the EU and vice versa.

According to the provisional agreement reached by Parliament and Council negotiators in December 2015, the data will be retained for five years, although after six months the information that may lead to the identification of the individual will be rendered invisible.

You can watch replays of the debate:

Timothy Kirkhope (ECR, UK), Parliament´s rapporteur

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, on behalf of the Council

Commissioner Avramopoulos

Axel Voss (EPP, DE)

Birgit Sippel (S&D, DE)

Helga Stevens (ECR, BE)

Sophie In ´t Veld (ALDE, NL)

Cornelia Ernst (GUE, DE)

Jan Albrecht (Greens, DE)

Beatrix Von Storch (EFDD, DE)

Gilles Lebreton (ENF, FR)

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