BRUSSELS, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Telephone companies and Internet service providers will have to store records of all telephone calls, chat messages, emails, Internet surfing and MSN messages made in the Netherlands for a year under new anti-terrorism measures, Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant reported Friday.

    Dutch parliament agreed on Thursday night that if the government is hunting for terrorists or major criminals, they can ask for this personal information, search through it and even use it as evidence.

    The obligation to save the private data stem from a European Union directive which was adopted after lobbying by Britain to combat terrorism and serious crimes at European level.

    The rules should have been introduced in the Netherlands two years ago.

    The storage of personal data is a sensitive issue for the government. Dutch Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin would have preferred a period of 18 months for the storage of data. That was longer than most European countries, which have opted for 6 or 12 months.

    But the Labor Party, one of the three coalition partners, voted against the plan, saying it represents an unacceptable breach of individual privacy. The storage for one year is a compromise.