Alan Kelly
Question:628. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Justice the current status of the criminal justice (passenger name record) Bill. [22963/22]
View answerTuesday, 10 May 2022
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Written answers
As the Deputy may be aware, EU Directive 2016/681 provides an EU legal framework for the use of passenger name record data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime.
The Directive requires the transfer by air carriers of passenger name record data of passengers of extra-EU flights and the processing of this data, including its collection, use and retention by Member States and its exchange between Member States only for the purposes of preventing, detecting, investigating and prosecuting terrorist offences and serious crime.
The Directive also requires the establishment of a passenger information unit in each Member State which is responsible for implementing the requirements of the Directive.
The Directive was transposed in Ireland via the European Union (Passenger Name Record Data) Regulations 2018 (SI No 177/2018), which established the Irish Passenger Information Unit as part of my Department.
The Regulations transpose the mandatory requirements laid down in the Directive for the transfer of passenger name record data of passengers of extra–EU flights arriving in the State to the Irish Passenger Information Unit and the processing and transfer of that data where this is appropriate and necessary. The Regulations also transpose the comprehensive data protection and data security requirements of the Directive.
There is an optional measure provided for in the Directive for the extension of the passenger name record arrangements to flights arriving from other EU states. The purpose of the Criminal Justice (Passenger Name Record) Bill is to enable the State to avail of this option and extend the operation of the passenger name record regime to flights arriving from other EU states. Under Action 28 of Justice Plan 2022, which I recently published, it is intended to progress policy preparations by Q4 of 2022 on legislation for the collection of intra-EU Passenger Name Record data. This work will facilitate the drafting of the Bill.