Following on from the European Court of Justice decision that Ireland was in breach of Community law by bringing proceedings against the UK over Sellafield, a further rap on the knuckles was delivered today when an initiative on Data Retention proposed by Ireland, France, Sweden and the UK was annulled.

An agreement between the EU and the U.S. on the processing and transfer of personal data by air carriers was struck out by the Court.  This agreement, strongly supported by Ireland, would have provided the U.S. authorities with electronic access to data contained in the reservation and departure control systems of air carriers bringing passengers to the US.

According to Marian Harkin MEP, "this is a vindication of the stance taken by the European Parliament on this issue last November where a number of very significant amendments to the original decision were approved by the Parliament.  Critical changes to the original agreement included a much shorter retention period of the data. The Parliament voted for a 6 to 12 month retention period, rather than the proposed 12 to 36 months. Furthermore, the purpose of the retention of the data was to be limited to the detection, investigation and prosecution of serious crime as defined in the European Arrest Warrant only. This, in effect defines its scope quite precisely as opposed to the loose proposal from Council".

"Individual privacy is a core element of protecting our freedoms and the judgement of the ECJ upholds these freedoms. The European Union is defending the civil rights of its citizens and a balance must be struck between individual freedoms, the fight against terrorism and the enhancement of security. The European Parliament struck a reasonable compromise last November - hopefully the Council will now take heed of the views of Parliament" Marian Harkin MEP said.