The law on border controls was approved by 492 votes in favour, 33 against and 10 abstentions, and the law on the use of police by 438 votes in favour, 35 against and 60 abstentions. The two approved regulations stipulate the data that airlines must collect and transmit to the authorities, information that complements that already registered in the Passenger Identification Register (PNR). This advanced information will include name, date of birth, nationality, type and number of travel document, information on the seat and luggage, as well as certain specific flight data, such as the identification number, airport code and time of departure and arrival. In principle, only data from flights departing from outside the EU will be collected, although Member States may include information from flights within the EU itself if there is a specific need on the part of the security services, namely if there is a terrorist threat. The new rules will allow the authorities to cross-reference this data with the PNR data - which includes more information, such as the flight itinerary or booking information - which could be particularly effective in identifying high-risk travellers and confirming the travel patterns of suspicious individuals. The aim is for the new rules to also facilitate the work of border control authorities, as they will be able to carry out checks before passengers land and keep the data for longer than previously allowed. The agreement provides that airlines and border authorities may only keep the data for 48 hours and for an additional 48 hours in cases where the passenger does not appear at a border crossing point on the scheduled date, for example. In addition, biometric information has been excluded from the data to be recorded and provisions have been introduced prohibiting the profiling of individuals based on these records or statistics derived from them, so that they cannot lead to discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, language, religion or disability, among others. The regulations will require that the information be recorded in an automated and standardised manner and transmitted to a centralised router, from which it will be sent to the competent authorities, which will improve efficiency and reduce costs and the risk of errors, according to the Council. Once approved at political level, the laws will be subject to checks by legal linguists before being finalised through the rectification procedure after the European elections of 06-09 June. Once published in the Official Journal of the EU, they will enter into force 20 days later. Read Also: Voos cancelados em França na quinta-feira apesar do levantamento de greve (Portuguese version)