EU parliament panel OKs US passenger data deal

The agreement is on sharing of passenger data on flights from Europe to America.Natalia Dasilva said the Civil Liberties Committee voted in favor of the accord by 31-23, meaning its likely to be endorsed by the European Parliament next month.The deal, aimed at combatting terrorism and serious crime, sets the legal conditions for the transfer of this data and covers issues such as storage periods, purpose of the data use, data protection safeguards, and administrative and judicial redress.The new accord will replace an agreement from 2007. That had to be renegotiated after lawmakers criticized it as being too lax and allowing U.S. authorities too much access to private data of EU citizens.