No Agreement Yet Over Contentious US Requirement

On midnight October 1st, a deadline to finalize an agreement between US security agencies and European airlines passed without a deal made.

Counselor to the EU delegation Telmo Baltazar told the Associated Press that talks were positive and constructive. "Talks did not collapse," he said. "They are at a temporary impasse and are ongoing."

European airlines are caught between a US requirement, and an EU court restriction. US authorities put in place following the events of 9/11 a requirement that European airlines provide personal data about passengers including names, addresses and credit card details. That data must be transmitted within 15 minutes of an aircraft's departure from Europe.

In May, the European Union's highest court ruled that requirement to be illegal -- not because of the content, but because the officials used the wrong legal basis to set the requirement.

That means that European airlines failing to provide the data to US authorities face a $6000 per passenger fine, and the possible loss of landing rights. Those that do face prosecution under the laws of the European Commission.

European courts ruled to allow its airlines to continue to provide the data until October 1st giving the two  parties time to make a new agreement. That deadline has now passed without a new agreement.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that he didn't think the failed talks would disrupt travel to and from Europe. He said he's sending EU representatives "an initial proposed agreement, which I think embodies what their fundamental requirements for data protection are so we can do what we need to protect our borders. If they're prepared to accept and sign, great. If we have to have additional talks, fine."

Talks have stalled over a couple of points. Under the original agreement, the US was to keep the data for only three-and-a-half years, now officials say they want to keep it longer. Additionally, with the proliferation of counter-terrorism agencies in the US, government officials want to share the data among those agencies.

For now, the airlines are still transmitting the data, but it's unclear how long European courts will allow the practice without a formal agreement.

FMI: www.dhs.gov