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The European Union (EU) and the United States reached a tentative agreement Wednesday on providing Washington data of passengers on U.S.-bound flights from Europe for anti-terror purposes.

The deal has not been finalized, and the envoys of the 27 EU members will study its details on Friday, a spokesman for EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said. 

It was reached during talks between Frattini, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in Brussels, said Frisco Roscam Abbing.

The new deal is projected to replace an interim accord reached between the EU and the United States in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001, which expires at the end of July this year.

Under the interim accord, European airlines must pass on up to 34 items of passenger data, including passenger addresses, seat numbers and credit card and travel details -- within 15 minutes of departure for the United States -- before it could be allowed to land. Meanwhile, Washington could keep the data for three and a half years to 11 and a half years.

Details of the new deal have not been publicized. But Schaeuble told a European Parliament committee on Tuesday that under the new deal, the number of the data passed on to Washington could be dropped to around 20, and the period for Washington to keep the data could be extended.