EU assembly adopts new rules on aviation security

By Huw Jones

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - The European Parliament adopted new EU rules on Tuesday to make air travel safer from attack, but the finer points of who pays for tighter aviation security were left unresolved.

The rules harmonize in-flight security and cover areas such as the use of sky marshals and carriage of weapons on aircraft for the first time on a pan-EU level.

They also harmonize screening of passengers and cabin luggage, access control and security checks. The rules have already been approved by the 27 EU member states.

"Terrorism forces us to change the way we live our lives," Italian liberal lawmaker Paolo Costa told the assembly.

Lawmakers said the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, when aeroplanes were flown into the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington highlighted the need for tight security as the threat of attacks in the skies continued.

"In light of the ongoing terrorist threat, we believe clear rules on security and common implementation across European airlines are absolutely necessary," British centre right lawmaker Philip Bradbourn said.

Parliament and EU states could not agree on details of who should pay for what in aviation security and the bloc's executive European Commission will make separate proposals on this later in the year.

Each EU state determines how much of the cost it, the airports, carriers or users should bear for aviation security but further measures are envisaged to ensure that security charges are used only to meet security costs.