Advance details of air passengers demanded

EVERYBODY travelling to the United States will have to send their details two days in advance for clearance, Michael Chertoff, US Secretary for Homeland Security, told parliamentarians in Brussels.

The visa waiver system between the US and most EU countries, including Ireland, could be scrapped if they do not agree to new US demands on taking and retaining information.

Mr Chertoff revealed that under new legislation airline passengers would have to give whatever the information is on their passport online to the authorities in advance.

“It gives us more time to analyse if we have a problem with someone,” he said.

The US has refused to extend the visa waiver system to the 10 new central and eastern European members so far and is making it a condition that they agree to a new passenger name records (PNR) regime first.

Mr Chertoff, appearing before the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee, said this condition would be extended to cover all those other EU countries whose citizens do not need a visa to visit the US. The agreement between the US and the EU on PNR data is due to expire in July.

The Europeans want to limit what the information can be used for and who receives it on the basis of protecting citizens’ rights to privacy. The European Parliament has been particularly critical of what it sees as an erosion of civil rights.

European Commissioner for Justice Franco Frattini, who is involved in the discussions on a new PNR deal, said they were discussing the US demand to keep data for longer and were trying to find a way around this, such as making a distinction between different types of data.