The EU-US Passenger Name Record Agreements: The Transformative Effect of the War on Terrorism

Maeve Dion. Legal Research Associate. Email.
December 2006.

Introduction

On May 30, 2006, the European Union (“EU”) Court of Justice vitiated the two-year-old legal structure that permitted EU airlines to share their Passenger Name Record (“PNR”) data with the United States (“US”) government. The Court held that the foundations of the legal structure were not properly based in EU law. To understand the rationales and ramifications of the Court’s determinations, this paper will review both (1) the authorities and structure of EU decision-making in this arena, and (2) the political, social, and economic contexts within which the 2004 EU-US PNR agreement was made.

Read the full whitepaper here (PDF).