Now Brits could be forced to apply for a visa before travelling to America in EU security wrangle

Bargain hunters hoping to fly to America for the January sales could be forced to apply for visas unless European leaders abandon their objections to strict US security controls.

American anti-terror chiefs are threatening to withdraw the Visa Waiver Scheme for British and European tourists unless the EU signs an agreement on the new measures before Christmas.

Under the US Homeland Security scheme, all travellers – including children – without a visa must fill out a detailed online questionnaire about their health and criminal history at least three days before departure.

Travellers are currently required to answer similar questions by filling in forms on board transatlantic flights, which are handed to immigration officials when they land.

But from January 12 next year, the Department of Homeland Security wants this information in advance to check its blacklists for terrorists or anyone considered ‘undesirable’.

The measures have caused concern among European leaders and data protection authorities, with the EU demanding assurances about how the information will be used, who will have access to it and how long it will be kept.

But Michael Chertoff, director of the Department of Homeland Security, has called a halt to negotiations and is warning the European Commission that it must agree to the measures before the end of the year.

The warning could force Britain to come to a unilateral agreement with America to keep UK citizens in the arrangement.

But any move would leave Ministers open to attacks from civil rights groups, who have previously accused the Government of eroding citizens’ privacy rights at home and abroad.

In a letter last week to Jacques Barrot, vice-president of the EC, Mr Chertoff warned: ‘The data we gather under US law from those seeking to enter the United States is not subject to negotiation.

‘We are committed to protecting the individual privacy of all persons travelling to the United States.’

But he concludes that the matter should be resolved ‘in time for our signing an agreement when you come to Washington in December’.

The blunt rebuttal to EU concerns comes after the influential American Civil Liberties Union warned: ‘The negotiations under way between US security agencies and their European counterparts over the transatlantic transfer of personal data are just the latest of . . . the Bush Administration’s attempts to collect the personal information of an increasing share of the world’s population.

'That problem is the utter absence of real and enforceable privacy laws in the United States.’

Last night, Tony Bunyan, of civil liberties group Statewatch, said: ‘This is typical of the EU-US relationship.

'The US lays down the law and expects the EU to comply and if it does not then – as on visas – the US simply negotiates behind its back with individual member states.’

The Electronic System of Travel Authorisation is already available for passengers to complete on a voluntary basis.