PRAGUE, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The Czech Senate approved on Wednesday the agreement between the United States and the EU under which the EU countries' airline operators should transfer the data on air passengers to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

    The ratification of the agreement was supported by 37 out of the 51 senators present while most of the remaining members of the81-member Senate abstained from the vote , the Czech news agency CTK said.

    The agreement lowers, compared to the previous agreements, the number of data on air passengers required, but it prolongs the period of data storage.

    Senate foreign committee deputy chairman Tomas Toepfer pointed out that the agreement extends the period of data storage from the original 3.5 years to 7 years in the active database while preserving the current 8-year deadline for its storage in a nonoperative state.

    However, the reduction of the number of data required from 34 to 19 was only formal, Toepfer said.

    "In fact there will be no reduction," he said, adding that while the previous agreement precisely defined specific data required the new one only defines the groups or the types of data.

    Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said that the agreement was the third document of this type and the maximum possible compromise between the U.S. demands for the strengthening of the prevention of terrorism and the European demands for the protection of personal data.

    In 2003, the United States demanded the information on passengers from airline operators within its fight against terrorism.