European Commission Welcomes Adoption of Passenger Name Records Directive

The European Commission (EC) welcomed on Thursday the adoption of the directive regulating the use of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data by the European Parliament, senior officials said in a statement.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Earlier in the day, the European Parliament adopted the PNR directive that will oblige airlines to hand national authorities passengers' data for all flights from third countries to the EU and vice versa and retain the data for six months. Following the adoption, a source told RIA Novosti that the European Council would approve the directive at the next justice and home affairs council on April 21.

"The Commission warmly welcomes today's positive vote of the European Parliament on the EU PNR Directive. This is a strong expression of Europe's commitment to fight terrorism and organised crime together through enhanced cooperation and effective intelligence sharing," EC First Vice-President Frans Timmermans and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said.

The officials added that the directive would be EU common response to the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels.

"The EU PNR Directive should now be adopted quickly by the Council, so that it can enter into force and be implemented by the Member States as soon as possible," Timmermans and Avramopoulos stressed.

The new legislation is expected to assist the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of serious offenses, particularly linked to terrorism. The new system is expected to be implemented in the EU member countries in two years.

A series of coordinated attacks in Paris in November, which claimed lives of 130 people, and Brussels attacks in March, which killed 31 people, prompted EU authorities to step up security measures and enhance the exchange of information between the bloc member countries.