Brussels, 14/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 13 January, the European Commission confirmed that the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) required since Monday for entry into US territory was not equivalent to a visa. “We do not consider the ESTA system to be tantamount to a visa”, said Michele Cercone, spokesman for Jacques Barrot, Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security. These comments confirm the commissioner's declarations of November 2008 during an interview with EUROPE (EUROPE 9783). The fact that the Commission does not consider ESTA as a “visa in disguise” is an important announcement. If the contrary had been confirmed, then EU member states would have been under an obligation to reintroduce the visa requirement for American citizens travelling to the Union with the risk of casting a shadow on transatlantic relations. The ESTA authorisation, which has been available on the internet since 1 August 2008 (http: //esta.cbp.dhs.gov), has since Monday replaced the current information sheet filled in by air travellers (EUROPE 9816). “We trust that its implementation will not cause any unnecessary disruption to transatlantic passengers”, Mr Cercone said, admitting that the Commission was having some difficulty with the new system. Commissioner Barrot has written to the US Secretary for Homeland Secretary, Michael Chertoff, to inform him of certain problems that are causing the Commission concern, and in particular the fact that passengers must declare whether they are seropositive, and that this is considered as a transmissible disease, Mr Cercone said. Another concern, he explained, is the protection of passenger records. He went on to specify that what is important is to know how long such data is kept in storage and who has access to the data. The US government has announced it agrees to remove all reference to HIV and to remove it from the list of transmissible diseases requiring compulsory declaration, but this has not yet been done, Mr Cercone pointed out. (B.C./transl.jl)