Luxembourg, 08/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Thursday 7 October, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström announced her intention to present, in January 2011, a proposal for the creation of a European system to collect air passenger data, a “PNR” (Passenger Name Record) to fight terrorism, along the lines of the one in place in the United States since 11 September 2001. This plan, which the home affairs ministers of the EU have been calling for for several months, aims to collect information on travellers, such as the electronic address, telephone number, place of booking or travel agency of the passenger, at the ticket reservation stage rather than in the departure lounge. The ministers also agreed to start negotiations as soon as possible for new PNR agreements with the US, Canada and Australia. On 21 September, the European Commission presented three proposed mandates on the PNRs with these three countries, together with an external PNR strategy (EUROPE 10219). “The aim is to allow us to adopt, in December, the mandates to start negotiations with the United States, Canada and Australia”, said the Belgian home affairs minister, Annemie Turtelboom. “We will see how long it takes to conclude these negotiations”, she added, stating the need to remain “flexible” on the speed of negotiations with each country. “We hope that we will be able to start negotiations as quickly as possible with each country”, Malmström stressed. She will be responsible for negotiating on behalf of the EU. The ministers also called for all three of the mandates to be adopted in December to be identical, though acknowledging that the agreements ultimately concluded would necessarily be different. The ministers also noted the planned start date of 26 June 2011, for the visa information system (VIS), the database which will contain information on those applying for Schengen visas. (B.C./transl.fl)