EU-US agreement on privacy protection conditions may take up to 2 years, official says

EU-US talks on privacy may take up to 2 years

BRUSSELS — Negotiations for trans-Atlantic privacy protection agreement could take two years and limit governments’ access to personal data while forcing them to delete inaccurate information, an EU official said Wednesday.

The European Union’s justice commissioner, Viviane Reding, has asked EU governments to back a negotiating mandate for a deal setting out how the bloc’s 27 countries and the United States must protect the privacy of individuals in any law enforcement case.

“We want, once and for all, to have a basic fixing of the general values which are common between the United States and Europe,” Reding said, adding that “one to two years will be necessary” to complete such a deal.

“These discussions are not going to be easy because the systems on the two sides are so different.”

Reding said that, in the talks, she would insist any private data be used for legitimate purposes to fight crime and terrorism, and that anyone mentioned in such cases have the right of legal redress, as well as the right to have one’s personal data corrected or erased if it is found to be inaccurate.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Reding said, the EU has felt that American anti-terrorism officials have asked “for very much in terms of personal data” on Europeans.

Reding is holding talks this week with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and meeting next week with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in Brussels.

Until the umbrella privacy agreement takes effect, the EU must reach deals with Washington on airline passenger rights and privacy in financial transfers.

EU lawmakers in February vetoed a deal on the latter, saying it did not offer proper privacy guarantees.

Associated Press Writer Robert Wielaard contributed to this story