The EU and the US are edging closer to a deal ensuring data privacy as the two increasingly share sensitive information on their citizens such as credit card details and travel histories in the fight against terrorism. 

A senior EU official said on Tuesday, July 2 the European Union could strike a deal with the United States next year to protect personal data collected on their citizens to bolster the fight against terrorism but warned that important questions still needed to be resolved.

"The work is not over yet, there's still more to be done, but we may look forward I think, if things continue to go well, to an international agreement probably some time next year," Jonathan Faull, director of the European Commission's justice and interior affairs department said at a news briefing in Brussels.

Faull said he and US officials have been holding informal talks over the past 18 months to draft common standards on how data such as credit card details, e-mails or passenger travel records should be handled by authorities.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Faull said the pact would cover data transferred for law enforcement purposes only.

"It's very much in our interests to pin our American friends down to a set of agreed, common -- we hope binding -- principles. We are 70-80 percent of the way there," Faull told reporters in Brussels. But he warned: "The remaining discussions will not be easy."  

Data privacy way to building trust

The EU and the US have been in talks on the sensitive issue of data protection and sharing ever since US officials demanded access to passenger name records (PNR) on flights from the EU to the US in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

While both the EU and the US want to further push data sharing among police and counter-terrorism officials, there is acknowledgement the topic is a sensitive one and both sides say they need to cooperate on data privacy to build trust.

In recent years, privacy advocates and rights groups in Europe have strongly criticized deals with Washington including one giving it access to private data on air passengers travelling to the US and the right to keep the information for 15 years. Another allowed the US government to consult records of Swift, a consortium that tracks global bank transfers, including those of European customers in anti-terrorism investigations.

Reacting to criticism by European lawmakers and rights groups that data-sharing deals lacked privacy protection, a panel of EU and US justice officials set up more than a year ago has sought to assuage fears about privacy erosion.

In a report, the panel concluded that a binding deal on data privacy would be the best way to boost cooperation in fighting crime and terrorism. continues here

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