Parliament Passes Bill Regulating Airline Passenger Data Collection

The bill establishes a special structure within the Romanian border police, UNIP, which will handle passenger data sent by airlines from both intra-EU and extra-EU flights.

According the bill, airlines must send the newly-established structure the following data from their passenger registries: the reservation code, the date of the reservation or printing the ticket, scheduled date of the flight, name, surname and contact information regarding the reservation, all information on billing – including the billed address, the flight’s itinerary, the agency through which the ticket was purchased, seat number and all information regarding luggage.

The authorities which might further receive this data are the Romanian Police and Border Police, all of the country’s secret services, public prosecutor offices and the General Customs Directorate.

The information will be kept by authorities for a maximum of five years, with part of them to be hidden after the first six months.

In the context of the bill, serious offenses are defined as crimes which result in prison sentences of at least three years.

It also forbids authorities to collect data regarding racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or philosophical beliefs, union membership, health, love life or sexual orientation.

The bill seeks to transpose an EU directive on the matter. It will be sent to President Klaus Iohannis for enactment.