EU to restrict liquids in hand luggage for air passengers

The European Commission is to restrict the amount of liquids allowed in hand luggage for air passengers, in a new security measure, Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said Wednesday.

"Following the incidents of this summer we have sought to introduce a response proportional to the needs of security," Barrot told reporters in Brussels.

"We have decided to restrict the amount of liquid allowed in hand luggage," he added, while ruling out a total ban.

The new security measures will be "finalised in the weeks to come," the EU commissioner said.

British authorities announced last month that they had foiled an alleged plot to blow up US-bound airliners using liquid explosives smuggled aboard in drinks' or other containers

Maximum container sizes will be introduced under the new EU rules, allowing people to bring on board small shampoo and perfume bottles. Duty free airport purchases will be carried in sealed bags, Barrot added.

During a meeting last week on emergency measures after the alleged London plot, aviation security experts from the 25 EU member nations agreed on the need for a "common response" to the new threat of liquid explosives.

They decided to defer a final decision on precise measures to recommend until there was better scientific information on what quantity of liquid could be dangerous and to what extent it is possible to mix a deadly cocktail of liquids in flight.

The commission had insisted on finding security solutions which limit the inconvenience to passengers and economic impact to airports.

Many air passengers, notably business travellers, travel frequently with bottles of alcohol, perfume and other liquids in their hand luggage, bought in airport duty free shops and therefore placed in airplane cabins.

Barrot also confirmed extra airport security measures, notably concerning lap-top computers.

Last week EU nations agreed that lap-tops should be taken out of their cases put separately through and luggage scanners.

Experts from the International Civil Aviation Organization are also examining the danger of liquid explosives in airplanes at the group's headquarters in Montreal.

Similar measures restricting or banning liquids in plane cabins were announced by several nations in the wake of the British air security alert.

Among them, Germany last month announced it would ban all liquids from carry-on hand luggage.