Israel’s entry into the US visa waiver program may be delayed, this time by European Union regulations.
The US program requires Israel to share personal information about every traveler who enters and exits Israel – not only those traveling to and from the United States, but all travelers.
Among the details to be shared would be the Passenger Name Record (PNR) and Advance Passenger Information (API) issued in Europe, in addition to the data collected by the airlines for their own commercial purposes.
The information would be transferred to a national database attached to the Israeli tax authorities. It would also become available to the Shin Bet, the Mossad and Israel Police, according to discussions held by the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which met to advance legislation on data collection aimed at compliance with the program.
European Union privacy laws prohibit sharing such information, and thus airlines traveling to and from Europe will not comply with this sweeping requirement.
Population and Immigration Authority deputy chief Gil Birger said the US is not interested in where the data will be collected, but rather who will have the authority to collect and analyze it.
“The were told that by the end of April 2023, Israel will apply the requirements to direct flights to and from the US.
“The American demand is that it is applied to 100 percent of incoming and outgoing flights by the end of September 2023,” he said.
However, EU member states will, at the very least, demand an international agreement to regulate the transfer of information and maintain privacy, according to Yishai Don Yehiya, an official with Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority.
“Since the current model is out of the ordinary, the Europeans could very well say they refuse to comply, and they constitute 60 percent of air travel to Israel,” he pointed out.
Dror Granot, who represented the Justice Ministry at the committee meeting, said Israel is in talks with the European Union over the legislation.
“They will not negotiate formally with us until legislation is completed,” Granot told Ynet. “It is a prolonged process with too many variables, so a clear answer cannot be provided. I will say that in our wording of the bill, we attempted to align ourselves with the strict European standard, to more easily reach an agreement with them.”
At present, there are 40 countries participating in the US visa waiver program, including 24 of the 27 member states of the European Union.
It’s not clear why the European Union – which almost entirely itself participates in the US visa waiver program and thus already shares such information – would object to Israel doing the same.
