The European Commission initialed an agreement on Thursday with the United States that would transfer data for flights from the EU to the U.S., the Commission announced Nov. 17 in Brussels

If supported by the Council and the European Parliament, it would replace 2007 agreement that currently regulates the transfer of Passenger Name Record (PNR) by carriers to the US. The EU says the agreement is a ramification to preventing serious crimes such as terrorism, drug and human trafficking.

As a part if Parliament's role, Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, responsible for home affairs, began negotiations last December in wake of receiving Council authorization to do so. The new text, the EU says, represents a substantial improvement over the previous agreement.

"The new agreement contains a detailed description of what purposes PNR will be used for," the EU stated on their website. "These are the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorism and certain transnational crimes."

Passengers provide PNR data to their air carrier, who uses the information for commercial purposes, according to the EU, as well as being used by customs and law enforcement authorities globally. Technological developments have made a more systematic use for legal purposes, which the EU says has spotlighted the need for data collection regulation, usage and storage.

Data can only be stored for a limited period of time, according to the EU. After the data is sent to the U.S. it becomes depersonalized after six months and be retained for a total of 15 years.