EU and US negotiators have failed to reach a deal on transfers of European air passenger data to American security agencies.
A 2004 agreement allowing airlines to handover of passenger name records (PNR) was struck down by the European courts in May.
But warnings of travel chaos and fines for European airlines are not expected to come to pass, with an agreement due at a Thursday meeting of Europe’s justice ministers.
US homeland security chief Michael Chertoff stressed, in a statement, that a deal was on the table for an EU decision this week.
“I have initialled a draft formal US-EU agreement regarding the sharing of PNR data,” he said.
“As we await the final ratification of the draft agreement, we expect that aircraft will continue to fly uninterrupted and our national security will not be impeded.”
“Importantly, the proposal ensures the appropriate security information will be exchanged and counter-terrorism information collected by the department will be shared, as necessary with other federal counter-terrorism agencies.”
A September 30 deadline came and went because Washington asked for wider information-sharing across US federal security agencies.
The European commission insists that “much progress has already been made” and that negotiations have been held “in a constructive atmosphere”.
“It is in the interests of all concerned, travellers, airlines, law enforcement agencies and data protection authorities that a new agreement is concluded as soon possible,” said a statement.
Brussels has asked Washington to maintain current data protection safeguards in order to prevent any challenges under European law.
“In the meantime, the commission urges the US to continue to apply the safeguards for PNR data that were laid down in the now-lapsed 2004 agreement until such time as a new agreement is reached so as to minimise the risk of legal uncertainty and disruption to EU-US flights.”
Air operators have received both commission and US assurances that airlines will not be fined or have transfers challenged under EU data protection law.
“We’ve received assurances from both sides that operations could continue as they did before the weekend and that seems to be the case,” said the Association of European Airlines.
Negotiations have struggled, say sources close to talks, because the US has demanded more sweeping access and control over data.
Failure to agree could see huge disruption to transatlantic air travel and fines of €4700 per passenger for airlines failing to hand over PNR.
EU-US security cooperation over handover of computerised passenger name records to American security agencies has been controversial since March 2003.
Information – 34 fields of data – has been delivered straight from European central reservation systems to US law enforcement databases.
Details include the names of all travellers, all contact details, telephone numbers, addresses, emails, payment information, bank numbers and credit card data.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.