EU to lift ban of on-board liquids by 2013

The European Union said last Thursday that it would lift its ban on liquids in air passengers’ hand luggage by 2013 as part of a plan to harmonize and simplify airport security screening procedures that have been a source of confusion and delay for millions of travelers. The new system will require European airports to install new technology at checkpoints capable of detecting liquid explosives, the E.U. Transport Commission said.

The New York Times’s Nicola Clark writes that the European Union, the United States, and many other countries introduced restrictions on liquids and gels in carry-on bags after the British authorities said in 2006 that they had uncovered a plot to bomb U.S.-bound passenger planes using liquid explosives. Three British citizens were convicted last year of planning to blow up at least seven trans-Atlantic airliners on a single day with liquid explosives smuggled aboard in soft-drink bottles and detonated by devices powered with AA batteries.

Nearly four years later, the ban — which allows liquids only in amounts below 100 milliliters, or 3 ounces — remains a source of frustration at airport security checkpoints, where passengers are forced to jettison drink containers, toothpaste, skin creams, and even jars of marmalade before boarding planes. In some cases, bottles of liquor or perfume purchased in airport duty-free shops have been confiscated from passengers transferring through European airports to third countries.

“This is about building on the experience of recent years and streamlining procedures, so that on a daily basis security controls are easier for industry to implement,” the E.U. transport commissioner, Siim Kallas, said in a statement. “For passengers, the aim is also to simplify wherever possible the necessary security controls.”

Clark writes that as a first step toward ending the restrictions, liquids purchased at duty-free shops outside the E.U. or aboard non-E.U. airlines would be allowed in hand luggage beginning next year, provided they are sealed within tamper-proof bags and screened before boarding. Such liquids are currently allowed in the cabin only if they were purchased at an airport in one of four countries: the United States, Canada, Singapore, and Croatia.

While countries including the United States and Canada are also moving toward a relaxation of restrictions on liquids, the European Union is the first to set a specific deadline for the change, said Helen Kearns, a spokeswoman for Kallas.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has begun discussions with software companies about upgrading existing screening equipment so that it can detect liquid explosives. The agency said Thursday that it was “actively working with industry to develop the technology necessary to address the liquids ban while keeping the traveling public safe.”

The lifting of the liquids ban in Europe is part of a package of measures aimed at streamlining airport security. The steps include the elimination of duplicate screening of passengers flying within the European Union if they have already passed through security at another E.U. airport. Clark notes that the package also paves the way for the European Union to negotiate security arrangements with third countries that would enable international passengers transiting through an E.U. airport to avoid a second screening before boarding their connecting flight.