IRELAND/US: The Government has reassured airline passengers with flights booked to the US that there is no immediate threat that their flights will be grounded.
It has also confirmed that the practice of handing over to US authorities the personal information of people travelling from Ireland on transatlantic flights will continue.
The Department of Transport made the statement yesterday following the failure of the EU and US to agree on a new deal to share air passenger data. A previous agreement that provided the legal basis for airlines to provide personal data on transatlantic passengers to US customs expired yesterday, leaving airlines in a legal vacuum that the EU has warned could provoke "transport chaos" in the coming weeks.
EU officials have warned that airlines could face legal challenges if they continue to provide passengers' personal information to the US authorities, while the US has threatened to withdraw the landing rights of airlines that don't provide the data.
In a statement the European Commission said that despite the failure to reach an agreement talks would continue in a constructive atmosphere with a view to concluding a new deal as early as possible. It also appealed to the US authorities to continue to apply safeguards for the use of European citizens' personal information that were laid down in the now-lapsed agreement, which was first signed in 2004.
The previous deal, which was agreed in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks, is considered a key plank of the US administration's "war against terror". It obliged airlines to provide US customs with up to 34 items of data on passengers, including name, address, all forms of payment and contact phone numbers. Customs officers use this data to determine if any passengers are a potential security threat to the US and have, on several occasions, refused landing rights to aircraft at US airports.
But the deal, which has been criticised by MEPs for trampling on the privacy rights of EU citizens, was annulled in May by the European Court of Justice. It said that it was agreed on the wrong legal basis because the EU treated the transfer of passenger information as a commercial issue rather than one of national security. The court gave the EU and US until September 30th to reach a new agreement.
However, EU and US negotiators failed to reach a new accord in last-ditch talks held on Saturday in Washington. In the negotiations the US had been pushing hard to get a tougher agreement that would allow its customs agency to share the data received on transatlantic passengers more easily with security agencies. But the EU had insisted that this was not up for discussion at this point. Instead, loosening restrictions on sharing data would be part of talks scheduled for next year, it said. EU sources said this difference was the most likely reason for the impasse in the talks.
The failure of both sides to reach a new deal was greeted with concern by airlines, officials and privacy groups.
The Government said it would seek legal advice, although it said there was no immediate threat to flights.
The Association of European Airlines, which represents carriers such as Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Lufthansa, said it was concerned about the possibility of "extreme" disruption to services.
Spokeswoman Françoise Humbert said that if airlines did not supply data required by the US, passengers would have to provide such information at US airports with consequent queues and delays.