The European Union's transfer of airline passenger data to the United States as part of US efforts to fight terrorism should be declared illegal, according to comments made yesterday by an adviser to the European

Union's highest court.
The EU has shared information with the US authorities since May 2004, including 34 categories of data on airline passengers flying to US destinations, including name, address, all forms of payment information and contact phone numbers. The data transfer follows agreement after anti-terrorism laws were passed by US Congress in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The court statement says that neither the EU Council decision approving the agreement, nor the European are sufficiently protected by the US and the agreement has no adequate legal basis.