EU nears accord on sharing data

The European Union reached tentative agreements Wednesday on sharing of information about airline passengers and bank transfers that the United States has sought in anti-terrorism efforts.

The bank data agreement would bind the U.S. to use information on money movements from the Belgian-based SWIFT consortium only in anti-terrorism investigations, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.

SWIFT routes about 11 million financial transactions daily among 7,800 banks and other financial institutions in 200 countries, recording customer names, account numbers and other identifying information.

Last year, an EU panel concluded that a secret deal that gave U.S. authorities access to the data violated European privacy laws because it did not give enough guarantees that the data were properly protected.

An EU official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. Treasury Department would have to certify that data would be handled under its program to track financing of terrorism. The department would be able to keep the data for a specified number of years.

According to the draft agreement, the EU would name an “eminent person” to periodically review U.S. handling of the data, the official said.

Diplomats said the draft was approved Wednesday by EU nations and final approval by both sides was expected today.

The agreement on airline passenger data will be put to envoys from all 27 European Union nations Friday for approval, diplomats said.

Differences over how to balance security needs with concerns over passengers’ privacy had deadlocked negotiations since a 2004 deal on data sharing was voided by an EU court last year for technical reasons.

“We are encouraged by the progress, and we look forward to finalizing these decisions shortly,” said Laura Keehner, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

An interim accord expires at the end of July. The U.S. had said that airlines failing to share passenger data under its anti-terrorism screening rules faced fines of up to $6,000 per passenger and the loss of landing rights.

Currently, a maximum of 34 pieces of recorded data -- such as passenger names, addresses, seat numbers, and credit card and travel details -- are transferred to U.S. authorities within 15 minutes of a flight’s departure for the United States.

Details of the proposed deal were not immediately released. But officials said it was not substantially different from an EU document dated June 19 posted on the website statewatch.org.