The United States and the European Union have reached agreement in the long-running debate over transferring information on transatlantic flight passengers, diplomatic sources in Brussels said Wednesday, according to dpa. The agreement is believed to foresee European airlines sending less data on passengers to US authorities, but may allow the latter to save the information for longer. The compromise agreement was finalized in talks Wednesday between EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Representatives of the German EU presidency in Brussels however declined to reveal exact details of the deal, which must be approved at a meeting on Friday by representatives of the EU's 27 member states. Under the terms of an interim agreement reached between the sides following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, carriers in Europe must submit some 34 items of information, such as addresses and credit card details, before passengers are permitted to land in the US. The interim deal, which expires at the end of July, allows for the information to be held for three and a half years. The new agreement is likely to reduce the amount of transferred data to 20 or 21 items. Sources close to the talks in Brussels said however US authorities would nonetheless have access to as much information about transatlantic passengers as previously. At the core of the long-running dispute was the amount of time the information would be kept, and which US agencies would have access to it. The European side also sought to end the US ability to directly access flight booking computers, arguing instead that airlines should send the data.
