INTERVIEW-Data privacy at risk in EU-US air data talks-Frattini
(Repeats interview first filed on April 3; no changes to text)
By Ingrid Melander
BRUSSELS, April 4 (Reuters) - Data privacy will be weakened if Washington pushes to replace an EU-U.S. air passenger data deal with individual deals with EU states or airlines, the bloc's top security official said ahead of talks in Berlin.
Under a temporary agreement reached as part of U.S. efforts to combat terrorism, European airlines must pass on up to 34 items of data on passengers, including their addresses and credit card details, to be allowed to land at U.S. airports.
That deal expires at the end of July.
"From the American side, there are some who believe the general EU-U.S. agreement is not -- or no longer -- necessary," European Union Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said in an interview ahead of talks on Wednesday and Thursday with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
Frattini said bilateral deals with individual EU states or air carriers would weaken data privacy as those would have less negotiating leverage with Washington.
"You can imagine the negotiating power of private companies like Iberia IBLA.MC, Alitalia AZPIa.MI or Air France (AIRF.PA) while negotiating with the United States on landing rights," he said in the telephone interview.
"They would be ready, in my personal view, to accept many more concessions to the United States."
Frattini said the EU executive was seeking binding commitments by Washington on how data was handled, and that an EU-U.S. agreement would also guarantee that rules were the same in all 27 EU states.
He said he would seek a commitment by Chertoff this week to to conclude an EU-U.S. deal before the temporary one expires.
The talks focus on how long the United States would be allowed to store the data and which agencies should have access to it.
To reassure passengers on privacy protection, the EU wants to move from a system in which U.S. authorities take data from airlines' databases to one where it is up to airlines to pass on specific data.
Frattini also said the EU might ask for fewer pieces of information to be passed on to U.S. authorities in the new deal, saying the bloc would look whether all the 34 items now passed on are really necessary.
The U.S. ambassador to the EU, C. Boyden Gray, said earlier this year that public perceptions in the United States that Europeans were soft on terrorism and in the EU that Americans were callous on privacy protection were inaccurate but made transatlantic cooperation on these matters more difficult.
((editing by Alison Williams; Brussels newsroom + 32 2 287 6830, ingrid.melander@reuters.com)) Keywords: EU USA/AIRLINES
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