Adopted in 2016, the Passenger Name Record Directive (PNR)
allows police and justice officials to access passenger data on
flights to and from the EU to prevent serious crimes.
It has drawn criticism from rights groups including Belgium's
LDH, which in 2017 asked a domestic court to annul it for
infringing privacy and data protection norms.
The court sought advice from the EU Court of Justice (CJEU), and
that court's advocate general, Giovanni Pitruzzella, said on
Thursday that the PNR complied with the bloc's data protection
law.
He said there were sufficient safeguards to ensure the data's
security and confidentiality, but added that authorities should
only be allowed to retain that information if a link to the
fight against terrorism or other serious crimes could be
established, and then only for five years.
The CJEU, which follows four out of five such non-binding
opinions, will give its ruling sometime in the coming months.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee)
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