THE EUROPEAN Commission is trying to appease MEPs’ anxiety about a new bank data transfer deal with the US by seeking a right of redress in the American courts for Europeans whose details are unlawfully possessed.
In a bid to boost support in the European Parliament for any new agreement to hand EU bank data to US anti-terror officials, the commission wants the American authorities to give EU citizens the right to inspect data about their financial affairs held by intelligence agencies.
The move comes amid pressure from the White House to strike a new data transfer deal, after privacy concerns led the parliament to reject a deal in February.
The rejection of the original pact was seen as a forceful demonstration of MEPs’ rising power under the newly enacted Lisbon Treaty, which increases their oversight of all international agreements the EU seeks to make.
In an appeal to the parliament earlier this month, US vice-president Joe Biden said access to data on European bank transfers was crucial to avert future attacks.
To placate MEPs, the commission wants EU governments to approve a mandate for it to negotiate a “personal data protection agreement” with the US.
Any new data transfer arrangements would have to comply with such an agreement, said a spokesman for justice commissioner Viviane Reding.
The commission also wants reciprocal access to comparable US data for the European authorities. “We fully expect that this will be a two-way street,” the spokesman said.
Under the commission’s proposal, the right of Europeans to access data held by US agencies would be enforceable in the courts on both sides of the Atlantic and overseen by independent public authorities in all jurisdictions.
“There would be a right to have one’s personal data corrected or erased if it is found to be inaccurate,” the commission said.
“There would be an individual right of administrative and judicial redress regardless of nationality or place of residence.
“Independent public authorities would be given a stronger role in helping people exercise their privacy rights and in supervising transatlantic data transfers.”
Ms Reding said the mandate the commission is seeking would oblige the EU executive to keep the parliament “fully informed” at all stages of the talks.
Under the proposal, the transfer or processing of personal data by EU or US authorities would be permitted only for “specified, explicit and legitimate purposes in the framework of fighting crime and terrorism”.