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In 2022, the US authorities introduced that it might require entry to biometric databases of nations in the event that they want to hold visa exemption for his or her residents travelling to the US, together with European Union (EU) Member States. These new “Enhanced Border Security Partnerships” (EBSP) contain the automated trade of private information for the needs of screening and identification verification of travellers.
While the European Commission started discussing the scheme with the US administration in 2022, it acquired the official mandate by the Council of the EU to guide the negotiations on behalf of Member States solely in December 2025. The purpose of those negotiations is to determine a “Framework Agreement” which might set out the modalities of the knowledge trade and basic guidelines on processing of private information between the US and Member States. It is on this foundation that EU nations would then undertake their very own bilateral EBSP agreements straight with the US (or adapt their current preparations).
The US’s extreme calls for for travellers’ profiling and surveillance with the intention to keep in its Visa Waiver Programme are nothing lower than blackmail. The EU accepting the phrases of this energy wrestle is extraordinarily worrying for the rights of Europeans and any third nation nationals registered in European databases.
The scheme implies systematic transfers of biometric information and different extremely delicate and subjective “indications of risk” based mostly on European nationwide databases to the US authorities, which has proven a blatant disregard for fundamental human rights in its harsh and inhumane therapy of migrants and guests. In that regard, the draft textual content does nothing to guard from discrimination based mostly on political beliefs, which is worrying as a result of the US is already cracking down political dissent, together with its unlawful practice of screening travellers’ social media profiles. The sharing of particular person threat assessments to supposedly defend “public security and public order” beneath the EBSP may additional goal opposition to the Trump administration, support to transgender people’s rights or protests against the genocide in Gaza expressed (publicly) on social media, with doubtlessly important impacts, together with detention on the borders.
Furthermore it is extremely tough to know the phrases of the negotiations because the talks are shrouded in secrecy. However, in May 2026, EDRi member Statewatch leaked a “revised version” of the draft Framework Agreement, revealing the route the longer term deal has taken.
According to EDRi’s evaluation, the negotiated textual content appears to nearly fully mirror US calls for for unfettered info entry. This poses two main issues: (1) the textual content departs considerably from the Member States’ negotiation mandate; (2) its provisions are, in giant components, not compliant with EU major and secondary regulation, notably the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Notably, they fall in need of assembly EU basic requirement of reaching an basically equal degree of safety for worldwide information transfers – one thing that the Court of Justice of the EU would have little question of and declare the settlement incompatible with EU regulation.
EU leaders should battle to guard our basic rights towards yet one more occasion of the US bullying the EU into dismantling key safeguards. A robust Europe wants a robust rulebook and our lawmakers have to be centered on strengthening core protections towards information exploitation and privateness violations – reasonably than acquiescing to the whims of the US.
EDRi recommends the Commission and the Council to push again towards the US authorities’s blackmail and refuse to promote individuals’s private information to a rustic with a really worrying human rights violations document and speedy democratic backsliding.
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you’ll be able to go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://edri.org/our-work/the-eu-is-about-to-sell-our-most-sensitive-data-to-the-us-for-visa-free-travel/
and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you'll…
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you…
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you…
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you'll…
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you…
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you'll…