BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters):

Airlines will have to meet any costs they incur in a future EU-US scheme on sharing air passenger data to fight terrorism, a senior European Union official said on Wednesday.

Brussels and Washington began tough talks last week to replace a temporary deal under which European airlines must release up to 34 items of passenger data, including addresses and credit card details, to be allowed to land at U.S. airports.

To reassure passengers on privacy protection, the EU wants to move from a system in which U.S. authorities take data from airlines' databases to one where it is up to airlines to pass on specific data, European Commission Director General for Justice, Liberty, Security Jonathan Faull told a conference in Brussels.

"There is no doubt that these things cost money, but airlines have to invest in security, it is part of their business," said Faull, one of the EU officials leading the air passenger data talks with Washington.

Negotiators would try to keep costs to a strict minimum, he added.

Airlines rejected the argument, saying they should not have to pay for security deals decided by governments.

"Security is the states' responsibility," said Monique de Smet, regional director for the International Air Transport Association, who attended the same conference.

"We are, of course, ready to cooperate, but in a case like this, with a deal between two authorities ... we consider we should not have to pay," she told Reuters.

Faull said talks with Washington would be difficult but he was confident a deal would be reached before the temporary agreement expires in July.

The talks focus on how long the United States would be allowed to store the data and which agencies should have access to it.