BRUSSELS, Belgium_The European Union and the United States are likely to meet an end-of-month deadline on reaching agreement on a new anti-terror passenger data deal, a diplomat close to the talks said Wednesday.
The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks, said negotiations would resume in Washington later Wednesday and on Thursday with the aim of getting final agreement. "There is a prospect of having a deal," he said.
He confirmed EU negotiators were optimistic they would reach a new interim deal by Thursday at the latest, two days before a Sept. 30 deadline imposed by an EU court. He refused to elaborate on what the outstanding issues were.
Failure to reach a deal could cause a massive disruption in trans-Atlantic travel.
Washington has warned that without the agreement, airlines failing to share passenger information face fines of up to US$6,000 (€4,700) per passenger and the loss of landing rights.
Ambassadors from the 25 EU governments discussed progress in the negotiations behind closed doors earlier Wednesday, diplomats said.
EU spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing said on Monday that the last round of negotiations held by teleconference between Washington and Tampere, Finland last week had made progress.
U.S. Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley said Tuesday that he didn't expect air travel between the U.S. and Europe to be disrupted.
Reaching a deal before the court deadline was an EU priority to ensure airlines could continue to legally hand over 34 pieces of data about passengers flying from Europe to U.S. destinations. Such data, known as passenger name records, include name, address and credit card details, all of which have to be transferred to U.S. authorities within 15 minutes of departure.
The EU's top court in May ruled that the deal was illegal, saying it was not using the right legal basis under EU law. It did not rule on the deal's content. An EU court has allowed the data to keep flowing until Sept. 30 to give officials time to negotiate a new deal.
During the talks, EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini rejected appeals by his U.S. counterpart, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, to expand the number of data transferred under the deal, including travel itineraries and payment details of trips booked at travel agencies.
However, officials said the deal expected to be reached this week will be similar to the one that expires at the end of the month, except for the legal basis.
Negotiators have discussed more sharing of passenger information within his department and other federal agencies, U.S. Homeland Security Department spokesman Jarrod Agen said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control, for example, wants access to personal information about international passengers to help track a potential epidemic.
The CDC asked for that information from Homeland Security. Privacy advocates, however, say sharing that information would violate the trans-Atlantic deal.
The EU has agreed to start negotiations with Washington on entirely new data transfer pact later this year, which could include tougher anti-terror measures like additional data, officials said.
Lawmakers at the European Parliament earlier this month demanded Frattini ensure any future trans-Atlantic passenger security deals include a greater say for the EU assembly, which took the current deal to the EU court alleging it violated EU data protection rules.
The EU's top data protection supervisor, Peter Hustinx, also warned EU governments to ensure proper rights protection for citizens in drafting new anti-terror security measures.
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Associated Press Writer Leslie Miller contributed to this story from Washington.
