Responding to the call from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, the Commission adopted a communication outlining the options for establishing a European terrorist finance tracking system (TFTS). The communication represents an initial response to the request to prepare a legal and technical framework for establishing such a system within the European Union.

A European TFTS should have two main objectives. First, the system must contribute to limiting the amount of personal data transferred to the US. Second, it should contribute significantly to efforts to cut off terrorists’ access to funding and materials and follow their transactions. The communication gives clear indications about the key issues which need to be decided upon before such a system can be established. These include the need to fully respect the fundamental rights of European citizens, data protection and data security issues, the operational scope of the system, as well as costs.