VZCZCXRO9117
RR RUEHAST
DE RUEHPG #0804 1951242
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141242Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY PRAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7649
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC

UNCLAS PRAGUE 000804 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/NCE ERIC FICHTE, EB/TRA 
COMMERCE FOR ITA/MAC/EUR MIKE ROGERS 
DHS FOR TSA 
USEU FOR MORENSKI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAIR PTER EZ
SUBJECT: CZECH REPUBLIC: POSITIVE ON PNR COLLECTION 
 
REF: BRUSSELS 01829 
 
¶1. Summary: Despite an annulment of the U.S.-EU agreement on 
the transfer of passenger name records by the European Court 
of Justice (Ref A), the GOCR has no objections to the data 
transfers and will work with the Commission to produce a new 
treaty similar to the old one but based on EU Pillar III 
authority. If such an arrangement cannot be reached by the 
September 30 deadline, the Czech Office of Personal Data 
Protection plans to authorize data transfers on a renewable 
six-month basis until a bilateral agreement is in place. End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. Econoff met with the MFA Deputy Director for the 
Department of Internal Market and Related Policies Frantisek 
Trojacek to discuss developments related to Passenger Name 
Records (PNR) and to hear the GOCR,s opinion about a future 
agreement. Trojacek made clear that GOCR is fully onboard 
with cooperating with the USG on this issue and has no 
problem transferring data for fighting terrorism and 
organized crime. He believed that the current PNR Agreement 
was a good one, and the GOCR was not overly concerned about 
privacy rights issues, transferring data to third countries, 
or using the data for purposes other than countering 
terrorism. 
 
¶3. Trojacek conceded that the PNR issue was not on the top of 
the GOCR agenda at the moment and there is little interest in 
strengthening/weakening existing privacy rights over 
information transfer. The issue is being driven primarily by 
Brussels and Trojacek believes that the new agreement will be 
almost identical to the old one since the court made no 
ruling on substance. 
 
¶4. Trojacek gave an overview of next steps: a) in the next 
two weeks the current PNR Agreement will be terminated, b) 
negotiations between the EU and U.S. will begin over the next 
90 days ending September 30, c) a new agreement would be 
adopted in the Council and binding on all Member States. If 
an agreement is not reached in the Council, Member States 
will have to negotiate bilateral agreements with the U.S.  In 
the CR, this means a Presidential Agreement, which can take 
anywhere from six to nine months as it winds its way through 
Parliament. In the meantime, data transfer could continue 
only with the consent of the Office for Personal Data 
Protection. 
 
¶5. Econoff met the Director of the International Department 
at the Office for Personal Data Protection Mr. Ivan Prochazka 
to get an understanding of the role his office would play in 
a data transfer agreement. Prochazka explained that prior to 
the 2004 PNR agreement, his office granted routine six-month 
permits to the Czech national airline carrier, CSA, to 
transfer passenger data. He said his office should know by 
mid-September whether a deal can be concluded by the 
September 30 deadline set by the ECJ. Otherwise, his office 
will once again be responsible for authorizing the data 
transfer. Although Prochazka disagrees with the GOCR on 
transferring passenger data for use in judicial matters or to 
third countries, his office will most likely re-issue 
six-month permits to avoid putting CSA at a disadvantage with 
other carriers flying to America. Prochazka remains 
optimistic that a deal will be concluded by the EC before the 
September 30 deadline. 
CABANISS