EU Agrees to Give U.S. Air Passenger Data

The European Commission, with the support of EU member states, gave its approval on Monday, saying the agreement, which stipulates airlines give American authorities 34 items of information about passengers en route to the U.S., provides "adequate protection" under EU privacy laws.

The information includes credit card and e-mail information, phone numbers and meal preferences, which the U.S. hopes will enable it to identify potential terrorists.

"A negotiated solution is never perfect," Frits Bolkestein, the EU's internal market commission, told reporters. "especially when you are up against laws adopted by the U.S. Congress in the understandable conviction that it is vital to protect the U.S. against terrorism."

He added: "We have come up with an adequate solution, which the member states have supported."

The gathering of passenger data was one of a raft of measures the U.S. adopted in the wake of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 as part of its war against terror. While several European airlines, including Germany's Lufthansa, have already been providing passenger information, in doing so they were in legal limbo and possibly in violation of EU data protection laws.

According to Bolkestein, Monday's agreement ends any such confusion. Having no agreement, he said, would mean "chaos for EU passengers and airlines."

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has been negotiating with the U.S. since last year over the data transfer question. The Commission said both sides compromised in the final agreement, with the U.S. receiving fewer pieces of data than authorities originally wanted; the information is kept for a shorter period of time; and the data "are to be used for limited purposes," it said.

Harsh criticism

The deal has come under intense fire by data protection groups and the European Parliament. Last month, the EU's legislative body voted to launch legal action against the accord, saying they will take the case to Europe's highest court.

"Governments displayed their contempt for the rule of law in the EU today by adopting an agreement which privacy watchdogs and MEPs have said contravenes European law," Johanna Boogerd-Quaak, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, told reporters on Monday.

Some MEPs had pushed for the number of items to be reduced to 19 from 34 and wanted the emphasis to be on information that would help law enforcement officials, rather than such things as meal preferences.

"One way or the other, this issue will end up before the European Court of Justice," Boogerd-Quaak said.

Green MEP Patricia McKenna said the agreement failed to provide adequate safeguards that U.S. authorities would not pass data on to other agencies or to foreign governments.