Aer Lingus to disclose passenger information
Aer Lingus will have to give US authorities the names, itineraries and credit card details of passengers flying to the US, under a new deal agreed between the European Commission and US customs officials yesterday.
The EU commission says the deal satisfies EU data protection arrangements whilst meeting with new US anti-terrorism legislation implemented following the September 11th attacks last year.
The US has given assurances about the appropriate handling of the records, which will include passengers names, contact phone numbers, addresses, itineraries and credit card numbers.
The deal requires all airlines -European and US-based- to provide the information for all flights from EU countries to the US from March 5th.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said the company was waiting for full details on the agreement from the EU Commission, and would review the information once received.
A spokesman for EU transport commissioner Loyola de Palacio said that unless a deal was agreed the US would have insisted upon visa arrangements which would have restricted Europeans movement to the US.
He said it struck the right balance between security needs and guaranteeing the privacy of citizens. He said the EU was fully behind America in its fight against terrorism.
The deal is a transitional arrangement before a permanent legal framework is agreed to by EU members.
The agreement ends lengthy negotiations between the US and EU, since the US introduced tough anti-terrorism legislation in November 2001.
The law requires air carriers submit passenger data within 15 minutes of a plane's departure for the US, which can be checked before the plane lands against a US government database.
