In the last vote of the mandate, the European Parliament adopted the report by ECR Rapporteur Assita Kanko on the collection of passenger data by airlines.

Speaking after the vote, Kanko said: “Every year, the EU records around 1 billion air passengers, half of whom cross the EU’s external borders. The vast majority are well-intentioned, but unfortunately criminals and terrorists hide among the passenger flows.

“The new law will streamline the collection of passenger data that already takes place and close the gaps that criminals and terrorists exploit. It will help our police and justice services to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively. The gradual move to more automated data collection will further improve the travel experience.”

Passenger data will soon be collected automatically when passengers check in at a central European hub. Currently, Criminals and terrorists can take advantage of the differences between Member States data collection systems to fly anonymously around the world and even within the European Union especially if they change their name or date of birth to avoid detection. This package will harmonise and centralise data collection and strengthen our external borders.

“We are strengthening the EU’s external borders and getting a better handle on terrorists and other criminals. Honest travellers will only benefit from automation”, concluded Kanko.