Brussels, 10/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - Although there has been tension between the EU and US for a number of years on the transfer of personal data from one continent to the other, Europeans and Americans said they were ready, on Tuesday 10 June, in Brdo Slovenia, to conclude an international framework agreement on data protection. The final conclusion of the US/EU summit indicate that, “we recognise that the fight against cross-national crime and terrorism requires the ability to exchange personal data for law enforcement but also to fully protect fundamental rights and freedoms of our citizens, particularly their private lives and personal data…The best way to ensure these interests are met is through a binding international agreement”. The framework agreement is expecting to include rules on information transfer, particularly with regard to how data is stored, accessed and protected. A high level EU/US group on data protection was set up at the end of 2006 to bring the common principles on data protection together and which are applicable in the area of police and legal cooperation for the two parties (EUROPE 9301). The contact group identified twelve common principles on data protection, despite divergence on a thirteenth point on the conditions of legal access. Discussions were going well but is there still a need for an agreement on the legal form that would allow these principles to be applied? In Slovenia, political leaders decided in favour of the European solution, namely a binding instrument instead of a simple political declaration initially sought by the US. In his most recent report, Gilles de Kerchove, the European anti-terrorism coordinator said, “it appears that a legally binding agreement between the EU and US (negotiations on the basis of the Lisbon Treaty) would offer the best guarantees in terms of data protection and sustainable intensification of data exchange for law enforcement. This reference to the Lisbon treaty is far from being innocuous because it is through this that the European Parliament will be able to fully be involved in future negotiations on the framework agreement with the US. (B.C./trans.rh)