Bangkok--Oct 5--eTurboNews
The European Union and Canada signed an agreement on Monday allowing authorities to collect airline passengers' personal data, in spite of reservations expressed by the European Parliament about such accords.
Under the agreement, airlines flying from the 25-nation European Union to Canada would provide data to Canadian authorities "to help identify passengers who could be a security threat", the European Commission said in a statement.
The Commission said the agreement contributed to anti-terrorism measures while respecting EU and Canadian data protection standards.
In a non-binding resolution in July, the European Parliament rejected the deal after it took the bloc's governments to court in 2004 over a similar pact with the United States.
A Parliament official said in July it would be best to wait for the outcome of the court case before signing more agreements and another official said the assembly would take EU states to court again if they went ahead with the Canada accord.
The agreement was signed in Luxembourg on Monday on the sidelines of an EU foreign ministers meeting.
"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...our democracies," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement.
Under the pact, Canadian authorities will receive passenger names, payment information, billing address and contact telephone numbers among other information.
Brussels and Washington agreed last year to let U.S. authorities access airlines' booking records, scan up to 34 pieces of data for each passenger and keep them for 3-1/2 years.
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