(BERLIN) - Germany's justice minister on Tuesday attacked plans by the European Commission to collect data on air travellers landing in the European Union.

Brigitte Zypries said the proposals, which were backed by interior ministers from EU countries including Germany last week as part of new anti-terror measures, would intrude into innocent people's lives.

"Airlines are going to give the police personal data of people who have never been under suspicion," Zypries said in a speech to the European Police Congress in Berlin.

"Why is there a need to collect the data of all passengers when the data of suspects is already known to the police?"

The EU hopes to have the Passenger Name Record (PNR) plan -- based on a similar system it agreed with the United States last year -- in operation early next year.

Under the US scheme, European air travellers surrender 19 categories of data about themselves to the US Department of Homeland Security, which it can keep for 15 years and share with law enforcement agencies.

They range from email addresses to telephone numbers and credit card details.

The proposed European system would affect both EU citizens and foreigners when they enter the bloc, but it would provide a new layer of controls on non-Europeans, who would also give information via their visas and an entry-exit register being planned.

Zypries said the Commission's plan was a misguided attempt to replace human intuition with technology in the fight against crime.

But European Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini, a strong supporter of the plan, told the meeting that technology could play a crucial role in combatting terrorism and organised crime.

"We have to rely on the resources of human beings, but technology can give us a big advantage," he said.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble played down Zypries's opposition and said he expected the passenger data plan to be approved in his country.

"The Commission's proposal is very similar to the agreement between the EU and the United States, and that was signed off by the lower and upper houses of the German parliament," he told the congress.

The two-day European Police Congress, a meeting of 1,800 officers from 60 countries, ends on Wednesday.

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