SWIFT agreement

The SWIFT Agreement (in full: Agreement between the European Union and the United States of America on the processing of payment transaction data and their transmission for the purposes of the United States' program to track down the financing of terrorism ) is an international agreement between the European Union and the United States , which regulates US authorities' access to SWIFT ( Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication ) data . A first version of the agreement was approved by the EU interior ministers in the Justice and Home Affairs Council on November 30, 2009 , but was rejected by the European Parliament on February 11, 2010 with 378 votes to 196 . A second version was then drawn up, which was approved by the European Parliament on July 8, 2010.

In the course of the surveillance and espionage affair in 2013 , the EU Commission threatened the USA with an end to the agreement. After the European Parliament called for the suspension of the agreement in a resolution adopted by the plenary on October 23, 2013, Interior Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said that the agreement would offer effective protection of the rights of Europeans and would not be suspended.

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The US uses the SWIFT data to track down terrorist financing as part of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program ( TFTP ). Critics, including the German Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Prosecutor's Office , however, doubt the benefit.

In order to remove the data from the direct access of the US authorities, central SWIFT servers were relocated from the USA to Switzerland and the Netherlands at the turn of the year 2009/2010 . In view of the upcoming move, the Portuguese EU Council Presidency was given the mandate to negotiate with the USA in July 2007 on an agreement that would allow them to continue to have access to the data.

The EU interior ministers approved the agreement one day before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty . This sparked numerous protests, as the Lisbon Treaty gave the European Parliament a right to ratify EU international agreements and thus could also have participated in the SWIFT agreement. There were no dissenting votes; the interior ministers of Germany, Austria, Hungary and Greece abstained. The German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger was against the agreement and openly opposed Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière . Above all, the data protection, which was perceived as inadequate, and the access to the data, even if there was little, indirect or suspected terrorism, were criticized. Furthermore, industrial espionage by the USA was feared.

The agreement came into force on February 1, 2010 and should apply until October 31, 2010. Originally, a term of twelve months was planned. However, since certain provisions of the agreement were only adopted after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, contrary to the original expectations of the interior ministers, a vote of approval by the European Parliament was necessary. Parliament's approval was initially adopted in order to avoid a direct confrontation with the EU governments and the USA. On February 11, 2010, however, the agreement was rejected by the European Parliament with 378 votes to 196 at the suggestion of rapporteur Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert . Both substantive reasons and the annoyance of many parliamentarians about the way the Council deals with Parliament were important. The agreement was then suspended. The financial services provider SWIFT stated that it has not yet used it.

The rejection of parliament led to new negotiations between the EU Commission and the USA. In doing so, higher data protection requirements were observed and a right to inspect and, if necessary, correct or delete the data anchored. The negotiations ended in mid-June 2010. The new draft also initially met with skepticism from parliamentarians, but finally the three largest political groups ( EPP , S&D and ALDE ) announced that they would agree to the compromise reached. The Greens / EFA group continued to reject the agreement. The agreement was signed on June 28, 2010 after all 27 EU member states had approved. On July 8th 2010 it was also confirmed by the European Parliament with a large majority against the votes of Greens / EFA and GUE / NGL . It came into force on August 1, 2010.

During a review of the implementation of the agreement by the Europol Joint Supervisory Body (JSB) at the beginning of March 2011, the latter found that the data protection requirements were not being met and that there were therefore serious concerns about compliance with data protection guidelines. In particular, the justification of the requests for the transmission of data by US authorities, which was sometimes only verbal, made it impossible to review the processes.

With 544 votes in favor, 78 against and 60 abstentions, the MEPs of the European Parliament voted for a suspension of the SWIFT agreement on the transmission of bank data of European citizens to the United States. The suspension of data transfers to the United States requires the further approval of the EU member states.

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Among other things, the names of the sender and recipient of a transfer and the address are saved. These can be stored for up to five years; those affected are not informed. Intra-European transfers should not be covered by the agreement, but intra-European cash transfers should . In February 2011 it was announced that the US also had access to intra-European transfers, which are processed via the Swiftnet Fin . Only transfers that are processed via SEPA are protected. Statements as to whether the bank data may be passed on to third countries are contradictory. Large-scale access to data is not covered by the agreement.