U.S., EU fail to reach deal over passenger data

WASHINGTON — The United States and the European Union (EU) failed to reach a new deal on sharing airline-passenger data by Saturday's deadline, though officials said negotiations would continue.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the failure to agree wouldn't disrupt trans-Atlantic air travel.

Chertoff said that he was sending EU representatives "an initial proposed agreement, which I think embodies what their fundamental requirements for data protection are so we can do what we need to protect our borders. If they're prepared to accept and sign, great. If we have to have additional talks, fine."

European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said there would be a "legal vacuum" as of midnight.

"We have to discuss on commission level what to do next," Todd said. He said the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, would debate the issue Thursday.

But Telmo Baltazar, counselor to the EU delegation, said talks were positive and constructive. "Talks did not collapse," he said. "They are at a temporary impasse and are ongoing."

Chertoff said he'd been assured that European airlines would continue to transmit passenger data and said he didn't think European governments would penalize them for doing so.

Reaching a new deal before a court-imposed deadline was an EU priority to ensure airlines could continue to legally submit 34 pieces of data about passengers flying from Europe to U.S. destinations. Such data — including passengers' names, addresses and credit-card details — must be transferred to U.S. authorities within 15 minutes of a flight's departure for the United States.

Under the original data-sharing agreement, Europe allowed the United States to keep the data for up to 3 1/2 years, but the United States wants to be able to keep the information longer.

Europe also allowed the United States to share the data, part of a database called the Passenger Name Record, with other U.S. counterterrorism agencies on a restricted, case-by-case basis. The United States wants to be able to share the data more liberally.

The EU's top court in May ruled that the deal put in place after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States was illegal because it was not using the right legal basis under EU law. It did not rule on the deal's content.

An EU court allowed the data to keep flowing until Saturday to give officials time to negotiate a new deal.

Washington has warned that airlines failing to share passenger information face fines of up to $6,000 per passenger and the loss of landing rights.

Without the deal, airlines that hand over passenger data to U.S. authorities could face legal action from national data-protection authorities in EU states, the commission said.

Chertoff, though, said he had been assured airlines would continue to transmit the data.

Material from The Washington Post is included in this report.