U.S., EU fail on air passenger data deal
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The United States and the European Union failed to reach a deal on the transfer of air passenger data, putting airlines at risk of huge fines or the loss of landing rights, the EU executive said Saturday.
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The European Union hopes to reach a new agreement with the United States on sharing air passenger data next week after failing to do so before the previous pact expired, the European Commission said.
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The United States and the European Union are unlikely to reach agreement on a new civil aircraft pact, a European Union official said on Thursday, increasing chances the two sides could fight out the issue at the World Trade Organization.
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(InfoWorld) - An agreement sheltering airlines from European privacy laws, allowing them to hand over passenger data required by U.S. authorities, expired Saturday, leaving most European airlines in legal limbo. NoÂ disruption to flightsÂ has been reported so far. However, if the legal void remains for more than a week or so, airlinesÂ face being suedÂ by individuals or groups in Europe, said Chris Kuner, a data protection specialist with the law firm Hunton & Williams. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. authorities demanded that airlines hand over passenger information covered by European Union data protection legislation. Airlines faced prosecution in the E.U. if they delivered the data, or fines in the U.S. if they don't. An agreement struck between the E.U. and U.S. in 2003 protected airlines from being sued for sharing the information, which includes names, addresses and credit card details. However, Europe's top court overturned the agreement in May and said it would become legally void at the end of last month. Efforts to negotiateÂ a replacement agreement intensified throughout September, but despite assurances of progress from both sides, the talks ended in impasse Saturday, as the deadline passed. As talks broke up, U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security Michael Chertoff made a draft proposal that European officials said may be discussed at a meeting of European justice ministers in Luxembourg on Friday. The Commission hopes an agreement will be reached that day. British Airways said that a Air Navigation Order issued by the U.K. government protects it legally in the absence of a new agreement. "The order from the government supercedes European data protection laws," said spokesman Richard Goodfellow. Air France spokeswoman Veronique Brachet said that although she was unaware of the French government issuing a similar order, her company would continue to supply the data to U.S. authorities and foresaw no disruption to its transatlantic flights. "The European Commission has said we can fly to the United States, so I see no problem," she said. Karim Retzer, a data protection specialist at the law firm Morrison & Foerster said airlines are unlikely to be sued. But Kuner, the lawyer with Hunton & Williams, warned that if the legal situation isn't resolved swiftly there is a danger that European data protection authorities will be forced to take action against the airlines. "The European Commission will probably ask the national data protection authorities (DPAs) not to take action, and will assure them that a new agreement is imminent, but if they fail to secure a new agreement within a week or so, there is a very real risk that a privacy group or even an individual passenger may lodge a formal complaint. This would force the DPA to take action," Kuner said. If a complaint was lodged then the DPA would order the airlines to withhold the information from U.S. authorities. If the airline obeyed then it would face fines of up to $6,000 per passenger in the U.S., and the possible withdrawal of landing rights there, Kuner said. Kuner said he was surprised by the failure to renegotiate the original agreement in time for the deadline at the end of September. "We were given the impression that it was simply a matter of changing the legal basis of the first agreement, and that no attempts to change the substance of the deal would be made," he said. However, last month Chertoff said the original agreement obstructed his efforts to maintain a high level of security. The agreement allowed for 34 categories of information to be handed over. The U.S. has been pushing to increase this number during the negotiations over the past month. "Chertoff is in a much stronger position to negotiate," Kuner said, adding: "He doesn't face any legal issues in the U.S., so he doesn't feel the same pressure to reach an agreement that his European counterparts feel."
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Eyeing the agreement between the European Union and U.S. to share air-passenger data, the leader of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee pledged Tuesday to ensure that the deal was respectful of citizens' civil liberties.
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The European Union reached an agreement with the United States Friday on the sharing of data on trans-Atlantic air passengers which Washington says is needed to help fight terrorism, diplomats said.
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The United States has sent to the European Union a draft agreement on the transfer of airline passenger data after negotiations to avert a showdown that could have paralyzed transatlantic traffic.
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A failure by the U.S. and the European Union to reach a new agreement on passenger data could ground 105,000 people per week from September, IATA's chief warned in Tokyo.
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Push-me, pull-you European Union and US negotiators have struck a new deal on sharing airline passenger data, resolving concerns that failure to reach an accord before a 1 October legal deadline might affect trans-Atlantic air travel.â¦
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The latest agreement allows many more U.S. government agencies to access data about passengers flying to the U.S. from Europe, including details such as a passenger's name, address and credit card information.
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The US and the EU agree a new deal to share details about airline passengers, officials say.
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The European Union rejected a request by the United States to eliminate public subsidies for the aerospace groups Airbus and Boeing.
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The European Union hopes to reach an  agreement with the United States on a new pact on sharing of  airline passenger data next Friday, the European Commission  said on Sunday.
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European airlines entered a legal limbo over the weekend as a data-sharing agreement between the U.S. and the European Union expired with no resolution. The agreement shielded airlines from stringent EU data-privacy laws.
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The European Union hopes to reach an  agreement with the United States next Friday on a new pact on  sharing airline passenger data, the European Commission said on  Sunday.
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The United States and European Union  called a temporary time-out on Thursday in a cross-Atlantic  dispute over government support for aviation rivals Boeing  BA.N and Airbus EAD.PA.
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European Union citizens will be protected by the U.S. Privacy Act under an anti-terror deal with Washington on the sharing of trans-Atlantic air passenger data, the EU's top justice official said Monday.