Brussels, 04/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - After the air security agreement concluded with Canada (see EUROPE 9452), progress has been made with the United States in this same area. At a meeting, on 20-22 June, of the joint EU-US committee set up as part of the “open skies” agreement, the two parties came to an agreement on extending cooperation on air security, with the aim, ultimately, of setting up a “one stop security” system, which would mean that passengers on transatlantic flights would only have to undergo security checks once.
The EU, the US aviation security administration and the main representatives of the aviation sector (European Civil Aviation Conference, APCO Worldwide, American Association of Airport Executives, Airports Council International and others) held a conference on US-Europe security policy in Brussels on 2-4 July. Speaking at this conference, Director of the Commission's air transport directorate Daniel Calleja Crespo stressed the need to work on “transatlantic air security”. This would operate in three main areas: compatibility of security measures; mutual recognition of existing measures; and joint inspections in airports with the final aim of introducing the “one stop security” system. Mr Calleja Crespo said that, in the meeting, both sides had agreed on sharing security information, expressed their intention to set up joint approaches on assessing airport security and acknowledged that there had to be further work done on mutual recognition of security measures. The next meeting will take place in Brussels in the next few months. (aby)