EU: EU and US negotiators were expected to conclude a new agreement to share airline passenger data in last-ditch negotiations last night designed to avert transport chaos.
An existing agreement that provides the legal basis for airlines flying from Europe to provide the US authorities with information on passengers is due to expire today.
EU officials have warned that if no deal is reached, transatlantic flights could be grounded or airlines could face legal action by passengers for violating their privacy.
The existing deal, agreed in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks, is considered a key plank of the US administration's "war against terror".
It obliges airlines to provide US customs authorities with up to 34 items of data on passengers, including name, address, all forms of payment and contact telephone numbers.
The controversial deal, which has been criticised by MEPs for trampling on the privacy rights of citizens, was annulled in May by the European Court of Justice.
It said that it was agreed under the wrong legal base because the EU treated the transfer of passenger information as a commercial issue rather than one of national security.
The court gave EU and US negotiators until September 30th to agree a new deal.
But talks between the EU and US have been complicated by US demands that airlines should provide more information to the Customs and Border Protection agency and that they be allowed to share this data with other security agencies.
A European Commission spokesman said yesterday the US had now agreed not to seek to change the content of the agreement in any new deal.
These issues would be covered when a new agreement is due to be struck next year in October, the spokesman added.
Director general of the EU's justice directorate Jonathan Faull, who is leading the EU talks in Washington, has warned of "transport chaos" if a new deal is not reached.
Passengers could take legal action against airlines if they continue to transfer the data with no legal agreement offering proper data protection to citizens while the US has threatened to ground flights if airlines flying from the EU stop giving information.
Even if negotiators sign off on a new deal before the current agreement expires today, there will be several days of legal limbo as such a deal cannot pass into law until Friday when EU justice ministers are expected to formally sanction any new international agreement.
Philip Nolan, a lawyer with Mason, Hayes and Curran, said individuals could possibly launch legal actions against airlines during this period.
But, he said, if a deal was in place by next week, common sense would suggest there would be no punitive consequences.