European airport and airline authorities that use body scanners for security checks will have to meet privacy and health standards under rules adopted by the European Commission on Friday. The use of body scanners came under EU scrutiny in the last two years after several EU states announced plans to introduce them in response to a thwarted bomb plot on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009.
The United States has pushed for greater use of the devices, which use radio waves to project a three-dimensional image, in addition to standard archway metal detectors as part of efforts to beef up international air travel security. But EU authorities have been more cautious.
The European Parliament has strongly opposed previous plans to promote the equipment, which produces an image of the body underneath clothes and spot hidden weapons or explosives. Under the new rules, which all EU governments have to apply by mid-December, passengers should be able to refuse a scan and be offered an alternative search method - such as a hand search, EU officials said.
Passengers will also be able to choose whether they want the scanned image to be reviewed by a man or a woman. Any images produced by the scanners will not be stored or copied, and cannot be linked to data identifying the traveller. The image of the face should be blurred. Persons reviewing images should be in a separate location from the passengers so they cannot see their faces. Britain and Holland currently use full-body scanners and several EU governments have tested them.