EUROPEAN business travellers will face lengthy delays at American airports from October unless agreement is reached over passenger security information.
Airlines across Europe must provide US authorities with 34 pieces of information on each passenger - including names, addresses and credit card details - within 15 minutes of takeoff. But the European Court of Justice has now ruled that this is illegal.
The process came in for heavy criticism when it was introduced in 2004 as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks. MEPs argued that it was in breach of privacy laws.
Now the EU and Washington are frantically trying to negotiate a new agreement by September 30 when the deal expires.
Franco Frattini, the European Justice Commissioner, says: 'In addition to the obvious problems it could cause European passengers, the need for this kind of data is paramount in guarding against terror attacks.' Stewart Baker, the assistant secretary for policy at the US Department of Homeland Security, is also hopeful that a crisis can be averted.
'It's unimaginable that the data would cease to flow, that planes would cease to fly,' he says. 'I'm confident we will find a resolution.'
