LONDON, May 30 (UPI) -- Europe's highest court Tuesday blocked a controversial U.S.-EU deal on airline passenger data that Washington argues is necessary to help fight terrorism.
The European Court of Justice ruled that the anti-terror agreement, under which European airlines are required to hand over confidential passenger information to U.S. authorities, was not founded on an "appropriate legal basis."
It is a ruling that has far-reaching implications for attempts by the U.S. and other national governments to protect their citizens in a time of unprecedented threats from international terrorism, efforts which critics say have overstepped the proper balance between security and civil liberties.
European airlines flying into the United States have been passing over lists of passenger names, addresses and credit card details since May 2004, as part of Washington's drive for tighter airline security in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks by plane hijackers.
The Passenger Name Records agreement was sanctioned by the European Union's Council of Ministers -- which consists of leaders from all 25 EU countries -- but the European Parliament objected on the grounds that the data could be misused. It mounted a legal challenge, which led to Tuesday's ruling.
Under the deal, a European airline operating a flight bound for the United States was required to send the U.S. authorities 34 items of personal information about the passengers on board within 15 minutes of take-off.
Washington had argued that it needed such information to be able to determine whether any criminals or terrorists were on board.
Any airline failing to comply would be subject to heavy fines and a withdrawal of future landing rights, it had warned.
U.S. authorities also cautioned that if the data was not sent in advance, passengers would be faced with lengthy security checks on arrival.
But the court agreed with the European Parliament that the United States was not providing adequate levels of data protection.
The European Commission -- the EU's executive body -- and the Council of Ministers had based their decision to sign the agreement on the EU Data Protection Directive, but the ECJ ruled that this did not apply to data collected for security purposes and that their actions were therefore not founded on a proper legal basis.
The judges emphasized that EU law on data protection included a full commitment to supporting the United States in the fight against terrorism "within the limits imposed by (European) Community law."
The European Union must now find agree a new system by Sept. 30, when the current deal will be annulled.
The U.S. Mission to the European Union said that it had already agreed with the European Commission to find "an agreed interim approach to data transfers that fully respects the court's ruling."
It said the United States aimed to find a solution that wouldn't disrupt transatlantic air traffic, compromise security or require data protection standards to be lowered.
The Commission stressed that the ECJ's decision concerned "the legal basis only" and not the actual content of the agreement.
It said it would analyze the "full implications" of the ruling and would attempt to negotiate a solution by the September deadline.
"The commission remains committed to the fight against terrorism while respecting fundamental human rights such as the right to privacy," Commission Spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said at a daily news briefing in Brussels.
But industry groups warned that the ruling could leave European airlines at the mercy of conflicting laws. If they did not supply information to the United States, they could potentially face fines of up to $6,000 per passenger and a denial of landing rights, but if they did, they would be in breach of data protection laws.
The agreement was drawn up in order to bring Europe into compliance with U.S. anti-terror legislation implemented after the Sept. 11 attacks which required all airlines operating flights to, from or across U.S. territory to provide the authorities with electronic access to all passenger data in their reservation and departure control systems.
The current regulations were already a result of a compromise between Washington and Brussels. The United States had originally demanded that European airlines provide passenger information such as seat numbers and meal preferences, which could potentially have identified individuals' religions, but the European Commission found that the transfer of such data violated EU privacy laws. After lengthy negotiations, Washington ultimately agreed to modify the proposal, also reducing the period for which the data would be stored from 50 to 3 and a half years.
European parliamentarians who had campaigned against the legislation welcomed the court's ruling.
The British Liberal Democrat leader in the European Parliament, Graham Watson, who led the challenge, said: "The response to 9/11 has been costly, both to the taxpayer and to individual freedom. It has made us little, if any, safer.
"Today's judgment vindicates the four-year campaign that I and my colleagues led in the European Parliament to protect the privacy of airline passengers."
Sarah Ludford, a fellow Liberal Democrat European parliamentarian, said the victory demonstrated the refusal of the European Parliament to "buckle in the face of transatlantic bullying" and its determination to uphold the legitimate interests of European citizens.
She said parliamentarians would now be vigilant against any attempts by Washington to replace the EU-wide deal with a series of bilateral agreements with national governments "with similarly inadequate safeguards against misuse of personal data."
However the British government, which had testified in defense of the agreement, has already told its airlines that domestic law will not prevent them from handing over the data, British Airways -- Europe's third largest airline -- said in a statement.
Other governments may follow suit, paving the way for protracted transatlantic wrangling over the proper balance between collective security for U.S. citizens and the privacy of individuals the world over.
