EU allows US to have unprecedented access to personal data

The European Union (EU) has reached an agreement to allow the US government unprecedented access to data on flight passengers and also banking details.

The first of the new agreements allows the US to retain information about passengers travelling from Europe for up to 15 years and places no limitation on what US authorities are allowed to do with the data.

Peter Hustinx, the European data protection supervisor - a watchdog role similar to that of the Information Commissioner in the UK -  says the agreement could violate the rights of EU citizens, but Washington will allow European officials to visit the US and see how the data is used.

The EU has also approved a deal setting conditions for the US treasury department to consult records of the international banking network Swift in anti-terror probes.

'We agreed on Swift,' said an EU diplomat. The agreement aims to allay European data privacy concerns over the US fight against terrorism.

Under the deal data would be kept for a maximum of five years and the US can only use it for counter-terrorism purposes.