The European Union has reached an agreement with the US to continue sharing European bank data to help fight terrorism, after initially rejecting a proposal to extend information sharing because of privacy concerns.
Liberal members of the European Parliament insisted on stronger privacy guarantees before supporting the five-year agreement, according to the Washington Post.
The agreement, scheduled to come into effect on 1 August, allows US officials to request European financial data relevant to a specific terrorist investigation if they substantiate the need for the data.
The sharing of wire transaction information will be monitored by an independent third party, as stipulated in a resolution adopted by members of the European Parliament in May.
The European Parliament is expected to approve the deal next week.
European officials are planning to implement a filtering system across the region within five years to isolate relevant information and end the need to send data in bulk to the US.
