EU And Canada Sign Agreement On Transfer Of Air Passenger Data

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

05 October 2005

An agreement on the transfer of air passenger data was signed on Monday between the European Community and Canada.

Under the agreement, airlines flying from the EU to Canada will transfer selected passenger data to the Canadian authorities to help identify passengers who could be a security threat. The data will, however, be transferred by a so-called “push” system, rather than the more intrusive “pull” system temporarily in use with the US.

The treaty was signed in Luxembourg, on the margins of the EU’s General Affairs and External Relations Council, by United Kingdom Minister for Europe Douglas Alexander for the Presidency, Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and Ambassador Jeremy Kinsman of the Canadian Mission to the European Union.

Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner announced that:

“I am pleased to be signing this agreement today, after over two years of painstaking work. By combining high security standards with protection for civil liberties, the agreement represents the latest concrete expression of the EU and Canada’s shared commitment to tackling global security threats such as terrorism in a manner consistent with the principles and values of our democracies.”

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