Brussels, 04/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs Franco Frattini declared that the level of data privacy in the Union was at risk of decreasing if Washington chose to replace the EU/US agreement on Passenger Name Records (PNR) with bilateral agreements with member states or airlines. The EU is currently negotiating a new agreement for the end of July, which will replace the temporary agreement laboriously concluded last October (EUROPE 9281). The current agreement, which seeks to facilitate the fight against terrorism, requires airlines to provide the US authorities with data (a maximum of 34 items of data) on passengers travelling to the US. The information ranges from the passenger's address to telephone number and credit card via route details. 'From the American side, there are some who believe the general EU-US agreement is not - or no longer - necessary,' said Frattini in an interview with Reuters. The bilateral ministerial talks on this and other issues are due to start in Berlin on Thursday (see EUROPE 9397). The commissioner said that bilateral deals with individual EU states or air carriers would weaken data privacy as those would have less negotiating leverage with Washington. 'You can imagine the negotiating power of private companies like Iberia, Alitalia or Air France while negotiating with the United States on landing rights,' Frattini said. 'They would be ready, in my personal view, to accept many more concessions to the United States.' The commissioner said he would be trying to get a clear commitment from US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to conclude an EU-US deal before the temporary deal expires on 31 July 2007. (bc)