EU to collide with US over passenger data

The EU is on course for a transatlantic row about privacy over demands by the US for more information on European airline passengers to be submitted at an earlier stage with the possibility of sharing it among different US agencies.

In an article published in the Washington Post this week Michael Chertoff, the US secretary of state for homeland security, complained that the EU had prevented passenger data from being passed on to different homeland security departments, immigration or customs bodies, or the FBI. "European privacy concerns have limited the ability of counterterrorism officials to gain broad access to data of this sort," he wrote.

The EU is currently redrafting its passenger data transfer agreement with the US that was struck down by the European Court of Justice which ruled in May that the wrong legal basis had been used. The challenge was brought by the European Parliament over civil liberties concerns, an issue not raised by the court in its judgement.

The redrafting is under way and is scheduled to be in place by the court deadline of 30 September, after which the original deal expires. But the deal, as originally envisaged, will be renegotiated in full in January when US demands are expected to be put on the table.

The EU is on course for a transatlantic row about privacy over demands by the US for more information on European airline passengers to be submitted at an earlier stage with the possibility of sharing it among different US agencies.