Accordingly, the US government has sought the collection, transfer and retention of PNRs by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
[8] In February 2008, Jonathan Faull, the head of the EU's Commission of Home Affairs, complained about the US bilateral policy concerning PNR.
[9] The US had signed in February 2008 a memorandum of understanding[10] with the Czech Republic in exchange for a visa waiver scheme, without consulting in advance with Brussels.
[6] The tensions between Washington and Brussels are mainly caused by a lesser level of data protection in the US, especially since foreigners do not benefit from the US Privacy Act of 1974.
By concluding them, the legislators oblige carriers and computer reservation systems to make PNR data of all their passengers – nearly all of them being innocent and unsuspected citizens – available to foreign law enforcement agencies.
[12]Reports by the Legal Service of the European Commission as well as two professors funded by The Greens–European Free Alliance critiqued the agreement because of perceived reductions of privacy rights.