(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission has asked the United States to explain, and provide documents, about new restrictions to be imposed on US-bound European travellers next year, a spokesman said Tuesday.

In telephone talks with US homeland security chief Michael Chertoff, EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot "asked for more information in detail and for documents so they could be studied by the commission," the spokesman said.

"We are obviously going to examine the US proposal in its entirety."

The new US Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) would oblige travellers from western Europe, and Japan, who currently do not need a visa, to provide details they usually put on their flight boarding cards in advance.

The travel authority, similar to a system in force in Australia, would be filled in electronically -- either at the travel agent or over the Internet -- and would ideally need to be completed three days before flying out.

It is due to come into force in January.

The commission, which negotiates such security arrangements on behalf of the 27 EU member countries, wants to establish whether the system would amount to a de-facto visa, which US authorities insist it is not.

"We have to see what data the Americans are going to ask for, how they plan to manage and use them," said the commission spokesman, Michele Cercone.

"If the information requested is the same as those which already appear on the boarding cards given to passengers travelling to the United States, that will not pose any problem," he said.

The ESTA is meant to make it more difficult for potential terrorists to enter the US from places like France, Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Singapore, New Zealand, Japan and Australia.

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