Passengers Information

Over the past decade, the European Union and other regions of the world have experienced an increase in serious and organized crime, including human and drug trafficking.

At the same time, terrorists and terrorist organizations exist both within and beyond EU borders. Most terrorist activities are cross-border in nature and involve international travel, requiring enhanced cooperation between law enforcement authorities.

In response to the threat of serious crime and terrorism, as well as the abolition of internal border controls under the Schengen Convention, the EU has adopted measures regarding the collection and exchange of personal data between law enforcement and other authorities. While these measures have proven useful, they tend to focus on data of persons who are already suspects, i.e. persons who are "known" to the competent authorities. The Schengen Information System (SIS), the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), the Visa Information System (VIS) and the early entry/exit system are examples of such measures.

The Commission, in its 'Overview of information management in the area of freedom, security and justice' provided an analysis of these measures and stressed the need for increased cooperation between law enforcement authorities with regard to international flights to and from the Member States, including a more systematic use of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data for law enforcement purposes.

PNR data are unverified information provided by passengers that is collected and retained in air carriers' reservation and departure control systems for commercial purposes. This data includes many different types of information, for example travel dates and travel itinerary, ticket information, contact details, the travel agent who booked the flight, means of payment used, seat number on the aircraft and baggage information.

Law enforcement authorities may use PNR data in several ways

• reactively: use in investigations, prosecutions and detection of networks after crimes have been committed.
• in real time: use prior to the arrival or departure of passengers for the purpose of crime prevention, surveillance or detection of persons before a crime has been committed or because a crime has been or is being committed. In such cases PNR data are necessary to run a comparison either against predetermined assessment criteria in order to identify previously "unknown" suspects or against various databases of persons and objects sought;
• pro-actively: use of the data for analysis purposes and creation of assessment criteria that could be applied in a pre-arrival or pre-departure assessment of passengers.