British Lawmakers Say UK Plan to Track Visitors is Illegal

Apparently a group of British lawmakers has said that Prime Minister Gordon Brown's 1.2 billion pound plan to track passenger movements in and out of the UK will more than likely be ruled as being illegal under European Union law. The Home Affairs Committee said the e-Borders program, which allows authorities to check passenger data supplied by airlines against a watch list of suspected criminals, may not be legal to operate on routes between the UK and the European Union.

The panel went on to say that the program, which brings together UK emigration agencies, customs, police and visas authorities, would interfere with both European Union data protection standards and a rule that citizens of the 27 nations can travel freely as long as they can show an identity document.

Keith Vaz, a lawmaker from the ruling Labour Party who leads the panel, said that the major stumbling block and a very disappointing oversight is that they are sure that what the program requires will be illegal. It is, thus, shocking that money has already been spent on a program which could never be implemented.

A member of parliament who speaks on emigration for the Conservative opposition, Damian Green, said it beggars belief that after so many years of pursuing this project, the government still is not sure whether it's even legal to do so. Emigration Minister Phil Woolas said that the program is fully compliant with European Union laws and has been confirmed by the European Commission. The program has screened 137 million passengers and led to 4,700 arrests since 2005.