Liberal members of the European Parliament insisted on stronger privacy guarantees before supporting the five-year agreement, according to the Washington Post.

The agreement, scheduled to come into effect on August 1, allows US officials to request European financial data relevant to a specific terrorist investigation if they substantiate the need for the data.

The sharing of wire transaction information will be monitored by an independent third party, as stipulated in a resolution adopted by members of the European Parliament in May.

The European Parliament is expected to approve the deal next week.

European officials are planning to implement a filtering system across the region within five years to isolate relevant information and end the need to send data in bulk to the US.

This story was first published by Computer Weekly