Germany to ban full body scanner outright

Yesterday I posted on the European Parliament's rejection of full body scanners at European airports.

Lawmakers couched their rejection in calls for more studies to be conducted on the health and privacy implications of using these scanners. Yet even though these scanners are opposed throughout much of Europe, the feeling overhear is that the European Union will eventually go along with the technology -- I'm guessing once these scanners become the norm in the US.

But Germany is going one step further: Yesterday the country's interior ministry said that no matter what the EU may eventually decided vis a vis the scanners, they will never appear in German airports.

Interior Minister Gabriele Hermani told the Associated Press, "We won't join in with this nonsense."

Can Germany go its own way, even if it is against an EU directive? Hard to say. The way the EU is set up gives an awful lot of power for individual countries to make and carry out their own laws and regulations (one reason why a lot of people think the concept of the EU is a sham). But Brussels does have some power in enforcing bloc-wide regulations in industries such as air travel.

One thing is for sure: Look for German lawmakers to be a key opposition force whenever these scanners whenever there is another vote on these scanner.

Filed under: Europe, Airports