EUROPE:The EU and US have reached a provisional agreement over the transfer and storage of air passenger information to US security authorities in a bid to tackle terrorism.
They have also agreed to legalise the transfer of European customers' bank records to the US by the Belgian bank Swift, which operates the main global payments system.
The deal on air passenger name records (PNR) should end a year-long dispute between the EU and US over data protection safeguards offered to EU citizens.
Under the provisional deal the US will get the right to store air passenger data, such as the name, address and credit card details, on a government-operated database for a period of up to 15 years for scrutiny in serious crime and terrorism investigations.
This compares with a previous PNR agreement between the EU and US, which set a 3½-year maximum limit on the storage of people's personal information.
The US had been pressing during the negotiations to store information for up to 40 years. It argues the data provided by airlines to authorities about 15 minutes before a US-bound flight takes off is crucial in the fight against terrorism.
The EU feared that 40 years would infringe EU citizens' data protection rights.
The new agreement limits to 19 items the amount of data that airlines must provide to the US authorities. Previously, airlines had to provide 34 items of personal information.
Despite this reduction in information items, the EU official charged with ensuring that citizens' privacy rights are protected strongly condemned the EU-US agreement.
European data protection supervisor Peter Hustinx said he was "gravely concerned" at the proposal to extend the time personal data is held from 3½ years to 15 years, and at the absence of a "robust legal mechanism" for citizens to challenge misuses of data.
But Mr Hustinx does not have the power to block the agreement, which is expected to be signed off by member states' EU ambassadors today.
Meanwhile, EU and US negotiators have also reached an agreement to legalise the transfer of customers' banking records to US security authorities.
The deal follows last year's media revelations that Swift bank has secretly been providing this information to US security authorities since the terrorist attacks in the US on September 11th, 2001.
Under a new scheme all EU banks will have to inform customers that their banking records will be sent to the US authorities and could be used in terrorist investigations.
Swift will also have to sign up to data protection legislation in the US.