Press Release: Commission welcomes Council’s decision to sign agreement on the transfer of air passenger data to Canada

The European Commission welcomed the decision at the meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) on 18 July 2005 to sign with Canada an agreement on airline passenger data. Under the agreement, airlines flying from the EU to Canada were to transfer selected passenger data to the Canadian authorities to help identify passengers who could be a security, and in particular a terrorist threat. The agreement was perceived to strike a good balance between security requirements and the data protection standards required under EU law, thus making an important contribution to the fight against terrorism.