19/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - Switzerland and the United States have concluded a new agreement on access to air passengers' data (Passenger Name Records, PNR), the Swiss Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) announced on Wednesday 14 January. Like the agreement between the United States and the EU, airlines flying to the United States from Switzerland will have to submit at most 19 categories of data, including passengers' names, itinerary, ticket number, seat number and luggage information. The data may be kept for up to 15 years, rather than the three and a half currently in force. The new open-ended agreement replaces the agreement of 29 March 2005 which is coming to an end. (B.C./transl.rt)