European Parliament rejects deal for US access to SWIFT financial data. Next on the agenda: PNR deal for access to travel data
Today the European Parliament voted 378 to 196 to reject an “agreement” negotiated between the Council of the European Union and the US Department of Homeland Security which would have created a new extrajudicial basis for the DHS to obtain records of bank transfers and payments made via the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).
Understanding today’s EP vote and its significance requires first an explanation of the EU decision-making process for US readers, and then an explanation of some of the parallels between SWIFT and US-based Computerized Reservation Systems (CRSs):