“We received the assessment from the European Civil Aviation Conference and gave the European seal, based on their evaluation, to this initial configuration of airport scanners that allows passengers to bring larger liquid containers on board,” said Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, the European Commission’s spokesperson for transport.
Speaking at the institution’s daily press conference in Brussels, the spokesperson confirmed that the European Commission’s approval “has already been given” for such equipment to operate in the European Union (EU).
“The practical measures are not the responsibility of the airports. Currently, this approved technology concerns 700 scanners located in 21 Member States,” the spokesperson stated without specifying further.
However, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen warned, “This does not mean that now all passengers across the European Union can bring larger liquid containers with them. The responsibility to inform passengers remains with each airport, and they must fully inform passengers if they are using this advanced technology or not.”
The ‘green light’ comes after the community executive had previously banned such technology, citing technical problems with the equipment, but now authorizes it, following recommendations from the European Civil Aviation Conference.
The aim of these scanners is to speed up security checks, as passengers will not have to remove laptops and liquids from their hand luggage.
These limits began to be implemented following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and several failed transatlantic flight attacks in 2006.
In 2006, the European Commission adopted additional aviation security rules, restricting the transport of liquids, aerosols, and gels by passengers.
