Passenger Name Records in the Framework of EU Principles of Data Protection

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, , language: English, abstract: The aim of this work is to describe the framework of data protection principles within EU law. It will be described how the right to privacy and data protection have been evolving since their birth and how they became fundamental rights that need to be balanced with other crucial interests of the Union, namely, national or public security, with special regard to Passenger Name Records (PNR). A passenger name record consists in a set of data elements which concern each airline passenger's travel itinerary, such as the number and method of reservation , home address, email address, timestamped IP address, mobile and phone numbers, emergency contacts, travel details, payment methods, Frequent Flyer Numbers, and even other billing information as meals or services required by the passengers. In the first chapter it will be pointed out: at first, how the right to privacy was firstly debated within the domestic law of the United States; secondly, which international organizations laid down principles dedicated to the right to respect for private and family life; eventually, how the European Union created a comprehensive set of data protection laws safeguarding data subjects' rights. In this regard, there will be analysed also the most relevant principles of the former Directive 95/46/EC1 and the process that brought into the adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation. Within the first chapter there will be also examined the most remarkable judgements given by the European Court of Justice, which established several benchmarks for the right to data protection, such as 'Lindqvist' Case, 'Google Spain', and 'Schrems' Regulation 2016/679 will be the main object of the first chapter, as far as it represents nowadays a set of rules that put data subjects' rights at the core of the discipline set out for data protection. The final purpose of the first chapter is to explain the most relevant concepts and definitions of data protection. Understanding such principles is necessary to analyse appropriately the second and third chapter. The third chapter will deal with the international agreements regarding 'Passenger Name Record' that have been adopted by the EU with third countries. There will be even observed the main characteristics of 'Passenger Name Records' pointing out how they were perceived, at first, as commercial records and when they became useful for purposes of preventing terrorist offences and other serious crimes.