EU restarts talks on sharing data

The EU has restarted to establish an union-wide system for sharing airline passenger data to counter terrorist attacks and the trafficking of drugs and people.

Britain has said the European Union is risking a gap in its security if data on passengers flying to and from major European hubs are not stored to help detect criminals’ travel patterns.

The resumption of talks between the bloc’s justice ministers comes a week after the organisation agreed to share European air carriers’ passenger data with the US authorities.

The EU data sharing system, which was proposed by justice commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom in 2011, would oblige member states to designate a national authority to collect the data of passengers on international flights to and from airports in the European Union and keep it for up to five years.