Nineteen pieces of information on travellers should be collected before flights leave, says Commission

Europe should collect more passenger name record (PNR) data and tighten laws on the use of militant web sites, the European Commission said today.

The executive wants all 27 member states to collect 19 different pieces of data on each passenger in and out of Europe, including phone numbers and payment details.

And the data should be kept for 13 years.

If the proposals are agreed, airlines will not be allowed to fly to the region if the information is not passed on.

The collection of data is based on a similar scheme introduced in the US after the Al Quaeda terrorist attacks in September 2001.

In the EU, some passenger data is already collected for commercial purposes.

The commission is also proposing that the creation of web sites encouraging violence become a criminal offence.

The plans were drawn up by EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini.