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5/30/06

Mumbai Mirror: Europe court rules US data deal illegal

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Europe court rules US data deal illegal

Brussels: The European Union’s highest court ruled yesterday that an EU-US passenger data deal was illegal, saying it did not provide adequate privacy protection for European travellers. The trans-Atlantic agreement compels European airlines to turn over 34 pieces of information about each passenger — including name, address and credit card details — within 15 minutes of departure for the United States. Washington argues that the information is vital to combat terrorism, and warned that airlines would face fines and a loss of landing rights if they did not comply. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, however, found that the data would not be “adequately protected” by the US, and overruled a previous EU finding that the US “ensures an adequate level of protection for passenger name records data transferred from the Community.”

It backed a challenge from the European Parliament claiming that the EU view “does not constitute an appropriate legal basis for the decision approving the conclusion of the agreement and, in both cases, that fundamental rights have been infringed.”

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