Brussels, 20/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - Under pressure from MEPs, the European Commission has decided to withdraw its proposals for a regulation on air safety that would have brought in the use of body scanners for security checks in European airports (see EUROPE 9770 and 9769). The new proposal will soon be made, this time without reference to the scanners, which should mean that it will be possible to prevent the whole of the regulation being blocked by the European Parliament, which has expressed indignation at the idea of legalising instruments that show the naked contours of persons undergoing the security check. “The European Commission has taken a wise decision”, said Martin Schulz, the leader of the Socialist MEPs, adding that his group was totally opposed to the measure which he described as “degrading and with no consideration for human dignity”. “This decision seems even more justified in that we were not certain of the effect that such machines would have on health”, said Martine Roure (PES, France). In response to the concerns expressed by the EP, the Commission has undertaken to carry out more detailed analysis of certain aspects of the use of these instruments, which, it remains convinced, could play a very useful complementary role in security scans - all the more as the Commission plans to abandon restrictions imposed on the transport of liquids on board aircraft as of April 2010, technology permitting. (A.By./transl.jl)