The Spanish delegation in the People’s Party in it European Parliament offered this Monday your support for the tourism sector to achieve that the Home Office roll back and suspend the new traveler registry that came into effect last week. From the PP they consider that this represents a collection of up to 42 sensitive data of users of hotels, tourist accommodations, travel agencies and motor vehicle rentals.
The popular MEPs Borja Giménez and Elena Nevado have started this Monday a round of meetings with the sector to find out How are you living the new obligations? of Royal Decree 933/2021. The objective, they have assured, has been to “explore ways to stop this unprecedented norm at the European level.”
“The sector does not understand why the Government is so stubborn in creating this macro-registry if the collaboration with the State Security Forces has always been perfect and there has never been a need to go further,” said Giménez: “It is not a European decision, nor does it even have similar examples in any European country. “It is another nonsense of the Government’s management, which is also dangerous for Spain’s competitiveness compared to other tourist markets.”
The PP considers that this measure has a negative economic effect and may even violate European legislation on data protection, which is especially demanding in security aspects. This aspect was also denounced precisely by the PP spokesperson, Dolors Montserrat and by MEP Rosa You will be at the end of October before the European Commission. This must now verify that it is fulfilled correctly European data protection regulations which guarantees the security and confidentiality of personal information.
The registry, a “nonsense”
Regarding this Monday’s meetings, the PP has informed that the president of the Madrid Hotel Business Association, Gabriel GarcÃa Alonso, is preparing a list of allegations that must be presented before December 13. In it, they will argue that It is “nonsense” and apparently “against the law” that private entities be forced to go from collecting about 12 data to 42, also assuming responsibility for this data.
On the other hand, the general secretary of the Spanish Tourism Board, Carlos Abella, stated in that meeting that the new registry is currently “impossible compliance” for the sector because companies do not have the ability to verify the accuracy of the data, nor to keep it securely for three years, according to the PP.
For this reason, Abella has demanded that those sectors for which exemption had been requested from the beginning be excluded from its compliance, such as the conference sector and travel agencies. In the first case because large groups are handled that can change and in the second, because changes to the elements of the reservation can be unlimited between the moment of reservation and the provision of the service.
The round of contacts will continue this tuesday and includes the president of the National Association of Spas (Anbal), Miguel Mirones, and the general secretary of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations (Cehat), Ramón Estalella.