The European Commission confirmed a deal setting conditions for US authorities to access personal information from the interbank transfer service SWIFT for use in anti-terror investigations.
'The EU will have now the necessary guarantees that the US Treasury processes data it receives from Swift's mirror server in the USA in a way which takes account of EU data protection principles,' EU justice and security commissioner Franco Frattini said.
Frattini called on SWIFT, or Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, and other financial institutions 'to take all the necessary steps to ensure their quick compliance with European data protection law'.
Under the deal, data will be kept for five years, and the US may only use the information for counter-terrorism purposes.
SWIFT, which is based near Brussels, admitted last year that it provided US authorities with data in the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001 but insisted it did its utmost to protect privacy.
Under EU data protection rules, information on money transfers can be used only for banking purposes, and not for other uses, such as investigating terrorism financing.
source:www.forbes.com
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