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05 May 2010

European Parliament states its terms on the Swift agreement: “Bulk data” transfer must be avoided


On the issue of bank data transfers, Parliament argues in a resolution adopted by show of hands, that bulk data transfers infringe EU legislation. Parliament opted to postpone its vote on the existing agreements with the US and Australia and called for those accords to be renegotiated.

Any new agreement on providing bank data to the United States - for example via the SWIFT system - must avoid "bulk data" transfers until they can be processed within the EU, warned MEPs on Wednesday. As for Passenger Name Records, Parliament opted to postpone its vote on the existing agreements with the United States and Australia and called for those accords be renegotiated on the basis of new criteria.
MEPs voted on two resolutions in Brussels today, one on the opening of negotiations for an EU-US agreement to provide the US Treasury Department with bank data to combat terrorism, the other on the launch of negotiations for Passenger Name Record (PNR) agreements with the United States, Australia and Canada, also for counter-terrorism purposes. 
Bank data transfers
On the issue of bank data transfers, Parliament argues in a resolution adopted by show of hands, that bulk data transfers infringe EU legislation.  It urges the Council and Commission to "address this issue properly in the negotiations".  In addition, the new agreement should include "strict implementation and supervision safeguards, monitored by an appropriate EU-appointed authority" on the day-to-day extraction of and use by the US authorities of all such data. The maximum storage period must not exceed five years and the data may not be disclosed to third countries.
Any new agreement should be limited in duration and pave the way for arrangements to enable requested data to be extracted on European soil, say MEPs. They believe that "the option offering the highest level of guarantees" would be to allow for the extraction of data to take place on EU soil, in EU or joint EU-US facilities.  In the medium term, an EU judicial authority should oversee the extraction of data in the EU. Meanwhile, select EU personnel should take part in the oversight of the extraction process in the USA.
Reciprocity would require the Americans to allow EU authorities to obtain and use data stored in servers in the US.
Parliament wants access to any documents that demonstrate the need for the scheme.  It also wants to know whether the envisaged agreement will guarantee the same rights to European citizens as to Americans in the event of any abuse of the data: the rights guaranteed under the US Privacy Act can be invoked only by citizens and permanent residents of the United States.
 


© European Parliament


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