EU warns of chaos if no air data deal with US

BRUSSELS, Sep 29 (Reuters) Transatlantic air travel could be thrown into chaos if European and US officials fail today to replace a deal on sharing passenger data that is set to expire, the European Commission said.

Under security measures introduced after the September 11 attacks on the United States, European airlines supply US authorities with information on passengers entering the United States including their name, address, payment details and telephone numbers.

An EU court struck down the existing deal on a legal technicality in May but gave the European Union and the United States until September 30 to replace it.

''This would be a highly undesirable situation which could lead to certain legal chaos,'' the Commission's justice spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing said of the possibility that no deal would be reached today.

The United States has indicated it would deny landing authorisation to airlines that refused to send such data, he said.

In the absence of a deal, data sharing would be governed by data privacy rules in the 25 EU member states and this could spark complaints by travellers against airlines, he said.

''We had a long, good round yesterday ... the next round is today ... both parties are committed to respecting the timeframe set by the Court of Justice,'' Roscam Abbing said of the talks, being held in Washington.

He would not comment on why no agreement had yet been reached.

US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called last month for greater access to EU passenger data.

The EU has said there was not enough time for negotiations on more data access at present and urged Washington to accept merely a change in how the deal was framed legally.

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