EC transport nominee cautious on body scanners

(BRUSSELS) - The European Union's appointee for transport commissioner urged caution Thursday on the rapid introduction of body scanners in airports, saying that tests must first be carried out on the devices.

At a hearing at the European parliament in Brussels to establish whether he is fit for the post, Estonian Siim Kallas criticised countries like Britain and the Netherlands for moving unilaterally to introduce the machines.

"Body scanners are much more advanced compared with metal detectors, so they can increase safety and security," he said. "At the same time, we must finish our study within a couple of months."

The outgoing European Commission dropped plans to introduce the scanners Europe-wide in 2008 following complaints from the assembly that they violate privacy rights and could impact on human health.

Several European countries, including Britain and the Netherlands, decided to install the scanners after Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was charged with trying to down a US-bound passenger jet from Amsterdam on Christmas Day.

But other EU nations are cool on the idea, and Brussels wants to see health and efficiency studies on the machines, which can "see" through clothing, before looking to introduce them across the bloc, despite US pressure to do so.

"It's very bad that some countries already used body scanners without any commonly agreed standards," Kallas said, adding that "all the possible consequences: health hazards, legal issues, privacy issues" must be examined.

Currently EU members are free to use the devices as they see fit.

On Tuesday, the nominee for EU justice commissioner, Viviane Reding, expressed doubts about the machines.

"There is nothing which is 100 percent secure, and scanners are not a panacea either," she said.

"We have to look at less intrusive and more privacy friendly ways to detect explosives," said Reding, from Luxembourg and who is currently the EU's commissioner in charge of telecoms.

"Our need for security cannot justify invasion of privacy. Our citizens are not just objects, but they are human beings," she said. "We should never be driven by fear, but by values on which the union is founded."

She said passengers must only use them on a voluntary basis, and that the images recorded must immediately be destroyed.

The issue is to be discussed at informal EU justice talks in Toledo, Spain on January 21-22.

European Parliament Hearings of the 
Commissioners-designate