Negotiating the Enhanced Border Security Partnership: Balancing US security demands and EU privacy protection

To preserve visa-free travel under new United States (US) requirements, the European Commission is negotiating a framework agreement with the US for the Enhanced Border Security Partnership that would grant access to information stored in national databases, including biometric databases. This would have to be approved by both the European Parliament and the Council. With the exception of Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania, all EU countries' citizens currently enjoy visa-free travel to the US by participating in its visa waiver programme. The framework being negotiated would stipulate the general rules to follow when EU countries negotiate access to their national databases with the US. It would be up to Member States to decide what data and databases they wish to include in the information exchange with US authorities. The framework would apply to all EU countries, except Ireland, which is not in the Schengen zone, and Denmark, which has an opt-out. Countries also have the option to revoke access should the US withdraw visa-free travel for their citizens.One of the main challenges in the talks will be how to protect people's personal data, as the EU and the US have adopted very different approaches to this. The EU sees personal data protection as a fundamental right and has a single comprehensive data privacy law in the form of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The US considers it rather a consumer protection issue, which is covered by a panoply of legislation at both federal and state level. EU citizens also have more control over their personal data and rulings by the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights have further clarified the limits placed on the use of personal data over the past few years.The European Data Protection Supervisor has voiced its concerns and emphasised that the processing of personal data should not exceed the limits of what is strictly necessary and proportionate.The Commission has also stressed the need for safeguards to prevent the misuse of personal data. In the past, Parliament has shown that it considers personal data an important issue when voting on international agreements.