The European Union could agree new rules on Friday to supply personal records on passengers flying to the United States if Washington guarantees adequate privacy safeguards, EU officials said.
Under arrangements put in place after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, European airlines pass on data on passengers, including addresses and credit card details, to be allowed to land at US airports.
But the European Court of Justice struck down that pact on a legal technicality in May and failure to find a fast replacement could expose airlines to breach of privacy suits.
"I strongly hope we'll be getting an agreement," EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini told reporters in Luxembourg ahead of fresh negotiations between US and European officials via a transatlantic teleconference due late on Thursday.
"(The question) is how to balance.the security needs of the United States and privacy protection needs," he said on the margins of a meeting of EU justice ministers who will reconvene on Friday to examine any proposed new pact.
Despite Frattini's optimism, one EU diplomat said the chances of ministers having a draft accord to approve on Friday were still only "50/50". "It is a very difficult negotiation," added the envoy. European and US negotiators were unable to reach a deal to replace current arrangements before they expired last Saturday.
The 25-nation EU had wanted simply to roll over the old agreement on a different legal basis, but Washington demanded wider access to the data for counter-terrorism purposes. Air traffic has not been affected so far but the industry is concerned about the impact of a prolonged legal void.
Senior EU diplomats said Brussels would yield to the US request to make it easier for more agencies to have access to the data sent to US border and customs services. But it wants to ensure the data protection safeguards included in the cancelled accord are reintroduced and extended to any new agencies covered in any future accord.
"The undertakings are the key," said one EU official of stipulations such as limits on how long data can be kept, who can access it and bans on inclusion of racial and health data.
EU negotiators are wary about appearing to yield too much to US demands given widespread European public misgivings over President George W. Bush's "war on terrorism", from revelations about secret CIA jails to abuses in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
Transatlantic ties will not have been helped by the European Commission's proposal on Wednesday that EU states force US diplomats to apply for visas in retaliation for Washington's refusal to waive visa requirements for most new EU countries.
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