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Europe court rules airplane prohibited items list must be published

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Tuesday that an unpublished list of items prohibited from airplanes does not have any binding effect on individuals unless it is made public. The list is set out in an annex to Regulation 622/2003, but under Article 3 of that regulation is made available only to "persons duly authorised by a Member State or the Commission." The court found that because the regulation imposes obligations on individuals, Article 254 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community requires that it be published in the Official Journal of the European Union before it takes effect. The court also found that a list prohibiting carry-on items was not within the scope of Article 8 of Regulation 2320/2002, which outlines the confidentiality of civil aviation security procedures. The case was brought by an Austrian who was thrown off of a plane in Vienna after refusing to surrender his tennis racquets. The EU passed Regulation 2320/2002 outlining EU-wide security requirements in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. These general security procedures have been modified to reflect emerging concerns, including a 2004 amendment to the secret prohibited items list. Despite privacy concerns, Europe has been moving closer to implementing a passenger data-sharing system, announced as part of a package of anti-terrorism measures by EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini in November 2007. In July, the EU and US reached a new agreement on passenger data-sharing under which air carriers will transmit passenger data directly to the US Department of Homeland Security within 15 minutes of a European flight's departure for the US.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 11, 2009 (boomark / email).