CZECH REPUBLIC: POSITIVE ON PNR COLLECTION

UNCLAS PRAGUE 000804

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/NCE ERIC FICHTE, EB/TRA
COMMERCE FOR ITA/MAC/EUR MIKE ROGERS
DHS FOR TSA
USEU FOR MORENSKI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAIR PTER EZ
SUBJECT: CZECH REPUBLIC: POSITIVE ON PNR COLLECTION

REF: BRUSSELS 01829


1. Summary: Despite an annulment of the U.S.-EU agreement on
the transfer of passenger name records by the European Court
of Justice (Ref A),the GOCR has no objections to the data
transfers and will work with the Commission to produce a new
treaty similar to the old one but based on EU Pillar III
authority. If such an arrangement cannot be reached by the
September 30 deadline, the Czech Office of Personal Data
Protection plans to authorize data transfers on a renewable
six-month basis until a bilateral agreement is in place. End
Summary.


2. Econoff met with the MFA Deputy Director for the
Department of Internal Market and Related Policies Frantisek
Trojacek to discuss developments related to Passenger Name
Records (PNR) and to hear the GOCR,s opinion about a future
agreement. Trojacek made clear that GOCR is fully onboard
with cooperating with the USG on this issue and has no
problem transferring data for fighting terrorism and
organized crime. He believed that the current PNR Agreement
was a good one, and the GOCR was not overly concerned about
privacy rights issues, transferring data to third countries,
or using the data for purposes other than countering
terrorism.


3. Trojacek conceded that the PNR issue was not on the top of
the GOCR agenda at the moment and there is little interest in
strengthening/weakening existing privacy rights over
information transfer. The issue is being driven primarily by
Brussels and Trojacek believes that the new agreement will be
almost identical to the old one since the court made no
ruling on substance.


4. Trojacek gave an overview of next steps: a) in the next
two weeks the current PNR Agreement will be terminated, b)
negotiations between the EU and U.S. will begin over the next
90 days ending September 30, c) a new agreement would be
adopted in the Council and binding on all Member States. If
an agreement is not reached in the Council, Member States
will have to negotiate bilateral agreements with the U.S. In
the CR, this means a Presidential Agreement, which can take
anywhere from six to nine months as it winds its way through
Parliament. In the meantime, data transfer could continue
only with the consent of the Office for Personal Data
Protection.


5. Econoff met the Director of the International Department
at the Office for Personal Data Protection Mr. Ivan Prochazka
to get an understanding of the role his office would play in
a data transfer agreement. Prochazka explained that prior to
the 2004 PNR agreement, his office granted routine six-month
permits to the Czech national airline carrier, CSA, to
transfer passenger data. He said his office should know by
mid-September whether a deal can be concluded by the
September 30 deadline set by the ECJ. Otherwise, his office
will once again be responsible for authorizing the data
transfer. Although Prochazka disagrees with the GOCR on
transferring passenger data for use in judicial matters or to
third countries, his office will most likely re-issue
six-month permits to avoid putting CSA at a disadvantage with
other carriers flying to America. Prochazka remains
optimistic that a deal will be concluded by the EC before the
September 30 deadline.
CABANISS