The EU Passenger Name Records Directive

1.  The proposal

The current proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the use of Passenger Name Record data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime (PNR) was approved by The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) on 15 July 2015. The original proposal was presented in 2011 but was rejected by LIBE on the grounds of the possible consequences for EU counter-terrorism policy.

Given the new security context and the concern of the Member States the EU realised that it was necessary to take measures to prevent and combat terrorist offences and serious transnational crimes. Because of the undeniable growing danger of terrorist attacks on the EU states, the European Parliament engaged in the finalisation of the PNR directive by the end of 2015.