Gatwick Could Be Hit by EU Court Ruling:
MEP Concerned by Passenger Data Ruling

A European Court of Justice ruling made today could have a detrimental effect on British airlines and passengers travelling to the USA through Gatwick airport, Nirj Deva, Conservative Euro-MP for South East England said today.

The Court in Luxembourg ruled the European Union should scrap the 'Passenger Name Records' (PNR) system, which requires a transfer of passenger data to the US. The security measure was brought in after the September 11th terrorist attacks.

The judges said the agreement with the US had to be annulled because existing EU data protection law only covers commercial data, not that used for security purposes.

Washington had warned that failure to agree a deal on passenger data would mean prolonged delays for air passenger from Europe, as more processing would be required on arrival in America. And the court decision almost certainly means more long queues and long hold-ups for residents at American airports once the current system is scrapped at the end of September.

Nirj Deva has warned that unless the British government and the European Commission can set in place a new arrangement suitable to the American government, British airlines could be hit with bans and fines from the US, or sanctions from the British information commissioner if they choose to continue passing data to the US.

Deva said:

"The British government and the European Commission must now take swift action to ensure London transatlantic passengers and British airlines are not seriously inconvenienced by this court decision.

"If a new agreement cannot be reached with the US government, our passengers could face chaotic queues in the US whilst waiting for details to be checked.

"UK airlines must not be caught in the middle of this either. If the British government cannot get a new passenger data agreement in place before the old one is torn up in September, they run the risk of seriously harming the competitiveness of our airlines."