U.S. and Europe reach data-sharing accord.

The European Commission and the United States settled more than a year's worth of negotiations with an agreement for the Commission to share airline passenger data with the Department of Homeland Security.

The agreement sought common ground between the requirements of the U.S. customs and the European Union's data protection legislation. Finding a solution between these two sets of laws--one to protect privacy and the other to gather personal information-proved a challenge, officials said.

"The biggest hurdle was the months of negotiations it took to get the agreement," said Homeland Security Deputy Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson, who helped negotiate the agreement in Paris. "Part of the problem they had was the perception that we don't have stringent privacy laws in the U.S."

The Bureau of Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration require access to airline passenger names in advance of their arrival to identify possible terrorists or criminal offenders. European airlines were faced with either complying with those requirements and risking the European Parliament's legal wrath, or ignoring the requirements and triggering intensive searches of their passengers entering the United States.

Addressing the European concerns meant American concessions, including setting a three-and-a-half year time limit on long the data will be stored, limiting how many data elements will be collected and agreeing to a joint review of the process every year, according to statements from European negotiators. U.S. authorities will not be permitted to collect race, ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership or health records in the screening process.