New EU-US air data agreement a ‘technicality’

A new EU-US air passenger data deal is a technical matter that should be quickly resolved, European commission officials said on Wednesday.

Brussels legal and justice experts have denied any political substance to a European court ruling annulling a transatlantic security agreement.

The May 2004 deal allowing the transfers of EU air passenger data to US security agencies will stay in place until September 30.

European justice ministers meet on Thursday to discuss a replacement and the commission urges there is “no time to lose”.

A new agreement using inter-governmental justice cooperation, as opposed to EU data protection rules, should be straightforward.

Commission officials note that national governments have already agreed, unanimously, to the original agreement.

MEPs, the European parliament mounted the legal challenge that led to the 2004 deal being annulled, will only be consulted, speeding a decision.

“We are looking at a technical issue. No one has said the agreement is wrong. The US has not withdrawn safeguards. Planes are still flying,” said an official

“In principle we want to replace the framework with something that is technically correct. There was no verdict on the content so why should we change it?”

“The European Court of Justice has given us clear indication of the right legal basis and the time to correct it.”

Senior Washington officials – in Brussels for high-level talks – agree with the commission’s assessment that the matter is a technicality.

Kurt Volker, US principal deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs, too stressed that the issue is procedural.

“I am sure this is something we can work with,” he told journalists on Wednesday. “It was kicked back not because of the substance but kicked back because of internal EU procedures.”

“It is something for the EU to sort out. I am confident that they will do that.”

The technical fix on a legal basis for EU air data transfers will be independent of commission moves to push for greater EU justice powers.

New proposals for more EU decision-making on justice will be tabled by European justice commissioner Franco Frattini on June 28.

Frattini’s proposals will be taken up by the Finnish EU presidency in the autumn in a bid to help plug the gap left by the demise of the European constitution.

“Difficulties over ratification of the constitutional treaty must not prevent the union from functioning and developing,” states a preliminary Finnish agenda.

“The union must develop its functioning within the framework of the existing treaties. In particular, Finland wants to map out ways of… improving the effectiveness of decision-making in relation to cooperation in police and criminal matters.”

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.

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