Deadlock in EU-US talks on airline data

Date:25/09/03

By Dana Spinant

THE United States is still "years apart" from the EU in agreeing rules for the transfer of personal data on airline passengers, the American official handling negotiations on the issue admits.

Talks on Monday between Undersecretary for Homeland Security Asa Hutchinson and Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein failed to break the deadlock.

The two sides are at odds over what kind of data should be handed over to US authorities, for how long it should be kept and for what purpose it should be used. The US wants to retain passenger data for seven years, while the Commission says it should be a maximum of three.

Hutchinson said the gap with Europe was narrowing on how long the data should be kept: "We are now four years apart; we were seven before."

"Seven years is a very short time if you want to investigate terrorism," he said, adding that he hoped the row could be resolved without recourse to the World Trade Organization.

However, European officials claim the US, despite announcing a softening of its position, has only marginally modified its demands.

Under America's proposed system, passengers would receive a "red" or "green" profile.

"You might get a red profile only because you were travelling by chance to an FBI-designated "hot spot".

"If you happen to have a special diet at the same time your profile is worse without you knowing it," one Belgian diplomat remarked.

EU negotiators fear the proposed US system lacks sufficient guarantees against abuses or errors, and wants victims of such abuses and mistakes to be able to challenge their profiles. But Hutchinson counters this by saying a chief policy officer and ombudsman would be appointed.

At talks on 22 September 2003 representatives of the European Union and United States could not agree on what kind of personal data on airline passengers should be transferred to the US, the length of time the data should be kept for, and for what purpose it should be used.