EU gives mixed response to new U.S. travel laws

By Ingrid Melander

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - The EU's presidency agrees with new U.S. rules that will oblige Europeans flying to the United States to give personal data over the internet in advance, its minister said on Thursday.

But the minister, Dragutin Mate of Slovenia, said that some European Union states had misgivings about giving information on health. The bloc's executive Commission said it was waiting for more clarification from Washington.

The new U.S requirement is the latest in an overhaul of U.S. travel regulations since the September 11 attacks.

The United States will make visa-free foreign travelers provide electronic information about themselves and their trip before they depart from January 12 next year, instead of giving information on a form on board the plane.

Providing the data over the Internet was just another way of doing the same thing, Mate said when arriving at a meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembourg.

But EU Commissioner Jacques Barrot, who handles security issues in the EU executive, said he needed more details from U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on the new travel law to be convinced that this was indeed the case.

"I talked with Chertoff and he must give me all the necessary information to know exactly what is the Electronic System of Travel Authorization and if indeed, as he says, it is only in electronic form what is already asked of passengers on the plane on paper."

When flying to the United States, visa-free travelers are asked to say on the paper form if they have a "communicable disease". That will also be in the electronic form.