EU meets US over passenger records

The European Commission will question US negotiators tomorrow (8 September) about their lobbying of national capitals over the contents of a new agreement on the transfer of airline passenger details.

The Commission was given the mandate to negotiate the deal on behalf of member states and it will refuse US demands to alter the content of the existing agreement, which expires on 30 September.

The deadline was imposed by the European Court of Justice which struck down the existing agreement in May saying that the wrong legal basis had been used. The Commission is proposing to change the legal basis of the document without altering its content.

The US has said it wants more details on passengers flying into the US to be supplied earlier and to be allowed to share it with a greater number of its customs and security agencies. But the Commission is adamant that there is no time for such discussions if problems are to be avoided from 1 October.

A Commission official told a Parliamentary committee on Monday (4 September) that the US had been approaching national governments to discuss the terms of the agreement.

When EU and US negotiators meet tomorrow it will be their first chance to put forward their positions on the new agreement, though an informal meeting took place over the summer. It is understood that the Commission will tell the US full negotiations can take place on the contents of the agreement before November next year, the original expiry date of the deal.

MEPs have complained that the European Parliament is being sidelined in the negotiations.

The European Commission will question US negotiators tomorrow (8 September) about their lobbying of national capitals over the contents of a new agreement on the transfer of airline passenger details.

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