HONOR MAHONY
The EU and its 27 member states have almost 20 programmes, agencies and agreements governing the exchange of personal, business and telecoms data of EU citizens, a first-ever audit has shown.
[euobserver.com] The arrangements, sometimes only concerning clusters of member states, are designed to facilitate passport-free travel within the EU, to combat terrorism and crime, and to prevent irregular immigration.
However, the programmes vary in their usefulness and range from the SIS system, which gathers personal data on travellers to Europe’s Schengen borderless zone, to the Advance Passenger Information System, which allows airlines to transmit data on non-EU citizens to border authorities in a bid to combat irregular immigration, and Ecris, the European Criminal Records Information System.
The agreements also vary in the information that is exchanged. The so-called Pruem Decision, originally between seven member states, now sees ten countries exchange DNA information, while the data retention directive, a major source of controversy, allows for the keeping of telecoms data. Co-operation between asset recovery offices sees information on property, vehicles and companies shared. (more on euobserver.com)
