Brussels, 05/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - Three senior European Commission officials were heard on Tuesday in camera by the temporary Echelon Committee at the European Parliament, informing it of the Commission's encryption system and the relations between the Commission and the American surveillance authority, the National Security Agency (NSA), in the Desmond Perkins affair (see EUROPE of 2 March, p.10). The European Commission restated on Friday in a press release its wish to clarify the remarks made by Mr Perkins before the temporary committee. It considered as a "misunderstanding" the allegation that this official had had the European Commission's cyphering material tested by the US National Security Agency. On the same occasion, the Commission announces that it plans to modernise its data encryption equipment, in the context of the development of European security and defence policy. Regarding the senior official, it states that there is no reason to doubt the personal or professional integrity of Mr Perkins. It specifies that the fact that there is someone related to him by marriage working at NSA does not disqualify him from performing his duties here.