The ratification of the agreement today was supported by 37 out of the 51 senators present while most of the remaining members of ECB marks 10th anniversary ...
Slovakia to join the euro next year ...
US Congress tables budget plans ... the 81-member Senate abstained from the vote. Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said the agreement was the third document of this type and the maximum possible compromise between the U.S.
demands for the strengthening of the prevention of terrorism and the European demands for the protection of personal data. On the one hand, the agreement lowers, compared to the previous agreements, the number of data on air passengers required, but on the other it prolongs the period of data storage. Senate foreign committee deputy chairman Tomas Toepfer (for the senior ruling Civic Democrats, ODS) pointed out that the agreement extends the period of data storage from the original 3.5 years to 7 years in the active database while preserving the current 8-year deadline for its storage in an unoperative state. Toepfer pointed to the criticism by the European Parliament that pointed out that there was no guarantee that the data would be completely destroyed after this 15-year period of storage. He said the reduction of the number of data required from 34 to 19 was only formal. "In fact there will be no reduction," he said, adding that while the previous agreement precisely defined specific data required the new one only defines the groups or the types of data. Airline operators should now transfer such data on their passenger as "all available contact information, all available information on the payment, available information on frequently travelling persons and all information about their luggage," Toepfer said. In addition, U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials will be able, in exceptional cases, to demand also sensitive data on passengers concerning their racial origin and political and religious beliefs, he said. The method of the provision of data will also be changed. While at present the U.S. authorities could take data directly from the airline operators' databases they will have no access to them in the future and operators themselves will transfer the relevant information to them. Since 2003, the USA has demanded the information on passengers from airline operators within its fight against terrorism. The operators must transfer the data to the U.S. authorities within 15 minutes after the take-on of the flight heading for the USA, under the threat of a fine and the loss of the landing rights.
(Ceske Noviny)
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